Catalyst
by Yami Y666
Summary: Yuugi didn't believe in vampires until the night he was snatched by one on his way home. Then again, he didn't believe he'd fall off a skyscraper, be involved in a massive bar brawl, or start a citywide fire, either. 'Course, that was before he met Yami.
1. Ambiguous

_**1: Ambiguous**_

_Two heads, as the saying goes, are always better than one. How much truth is in it?_

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Vampires. Blood-suckers. Demons. Night crawlers. Soul-takers. Satan's hounds. Rogue devils. Whatever They truthfully were, who could blame them from recoiling from the all-seeing eye of the public? Labeled in such a harsh light and scorned by all who'd before called them friends, They receded. They backed away from the light that showed them as what they truly were, and even when they were relatively safe from the accusing eyes, They did not stop. They kept going; and going. When the safety of the darkness, the night, finally wrapped itself around them, only then did They stop and let go of their paranoia. And with the acceptance of all that is dark, they became what they'd been accused of all along: creatures of the night. Da'kana.

But like every group put in those circumstances, there were those that turned bitter; they viewed their turn to darkness as a shove from the light. They tried to push on to the others the value in retaliating against the Da'sara, the creatures of the light; they wanted their lighter counterparts to feel the same things the ones of the dark had felt as they fell. But after much time had passed, and nothing had been agreed upon by all the Da'kana, the bitter ones took their plan for vengeance and receded back into the shadows.

The questions and possibilities that the bitter ones had brought up, though, would continue to be thrown back and forth between the other Da'kana as hierarchy developed, grew, caused conflict, became stronger, and finally began showing its age after over six thousand years of faithful service. Of this hierarchy, many positions of power became unnecessary as time went on, and were removed, until only a special few remained. These remaining few had the respect of the rest, and they ruled patiently and honorably, using force only when needed; they preferred to rule from the shadows, so at home were they in the darkness.

One such remaining ruler was the Da'kana prince. On this night, with the moon playing hide and seek in the clouds overhead, Yami stood balanced on a tree top. His eyes were closed; he was not relying on his sight tonight, but his sense of smell and hearing. Both of which mattered more to the Hunt considering that he was in a forest, where sight could only do good for so far.

The Hunt, he felt the remaining blood in his body speed up at just the thought. It wasn't just a technique that kept a vampire fed and away from death's door; it was almost a ritual in its simplicity, and complex because of that. Every vampire's skill, from newly turned to those from ancient times, was developed and measured by their successes in correctly choreographing a Hunt. And being a prince in the underworld, Yami was inclined to believe his skill was-

A whisper resounded through the branches up to the vampire, and his ears swiveled downward as he focused in on the sound. Yami already knew it was a human; a vampire would have run up to greet him already, and any other Da'kana would have either done the same or sent him the code to show their respect and identify themselves. But this one hadn't done any of those, and so Yami knew that the best of his Hunt was about to commence.

With a smooth turn of his body, he crawled down headfirst along the tree trunk, flipping his legs over his head at the bottom. His claws slid out of his hands, elongating their shadow counterparts, as his gums receded around his fangs and his hair straightened; all the changes gave him better control over his body and less chance of making noise against the wind.

Yami began to move; darting from tree to tree to minimize his visibility, and growing closer to the sounds he was hearing. As he neared the source, he could make out snippets of conversation drifting off into the forest.

There is only sound enough for one human; is he talking to himself? Yami puzzled, pausing in thought. Out loud?

"...should have just taken the ride Ryou offered- SHIT!" The human was definitely talking to himself. Yami found himself amused as the human tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground in a cloud of dust, ripped himself off it, and violently brushed the dust off. "Who cares if they were drunk as all hell? You wouldn't be so bruised that you look like you hadn't paid a DeLani hooker, now would you?"

Yami was so surprised that he had to physically clamp a hand over his mouth from laughing out loud. The DeLani hookers were infamous in the red light district as the daughters of the local try-hard mafia that hired themselves out for exuberant prices and set their daddy on anyone who wouldn't or couldn't pay their fees. Even if their father wasn't the genius he thought he was, hired muscle was still muscle and bruised just as much.

Meanwhile, the human had continued his rant at himself: "...what takes the cake? YOU DECIDED TO TAKE A SHORTCUT THROUGH THE GODDAMN FOREST AND NOW YOU'RE LOST. FUCKING FANTASTIC, YUUGI. BRILLIANT."

Yami was so busy trying not to make any noise, that he forgot about the human seeing him until it was almost too late. At the last second before the human crawled around the tree, Yami leaped up into the pine branches, the pine needles shoving themselves into his hair as he tried to push them out of his way. The human chose that moment to pause underneath that exact tree, sagging against the trunk.

"I'm not going to even go into your wardrobe choice," the human muttered to himself, crossing his arms. The vampire above him struggled desperately not to snicker. The human had on what looked like very tight leather pants that disappeared into thigh-high boots; his top consisted of layers and layers of what appeared to be belts.

Not the most comfortable thing to wear while hiking, Yami chortled to himself.

He was vaguely wondering how there were enough belts to adequately cover the human when he got to his feet again and huffed. "Because wearing fancy pantsy...pants in the middle of a forest, and being totally lost is exactly what I needed. Oh yes, I'd much rather be here than in some new club downtown dancing and getting drunk."

Yami swallowed the laugh that he could feel in his chest and shook his head to clear it.

Time to get back to business, he told himself. As the human was dusting himself off and muttering other things, Yami swooped down and grabbed the human, one hand curling around the warm neck and the other on his shoulder to turn him.

Yami spun him around until they were looking at each other eye-to-eye; before the human could open his mouth and speak, Yami quickly narrowed his eyes and used the power that being a vampire gave him to paralyze the human.

It always started the same, with the limbs first; the prey stop flailing and uselessly trying to escape the vampire's grip. The muscles in the body slackened next; Yami could feel the human's shoulder muscles loosen and his back started to hunch, but Yami moved his hand to support.

No sense in him dying early, the vampire justified. Last, his face went slack and lost all expression and personality, leaving a husk that was once human behind; it was, in essence, what allowed the vampire to feed off a being that wasn't much different from itself.

Tossing the human over his shoulder, Yami set off at a run, speeding up to a flit as he got to a long, uninterrupted road leading to the city.

A few minutes later, he had reached downtown and raced up the side of a tall building to stop on the roof and recover from his flit, the vampiric version of a full-out run. Yami couldn't help sporting a grin on his lips; his Hunt was almost over and he'd done everything successfully. Leaning the paralyzed human against the wall, the vampire walked to the edge of the roof and looked out over the bright lights around him.

What a strange one, he thought, referring to the human who spoke to himself. In all his many years, he'd met few humans that intrigued him so. Hell, he'd met even less Da'kana that did that. But it wasn't just their personalities that were different; they tasted different as well, their blood variety as large and different as a wine.

Yami turned back to the human, his grin twisting with his hunger, his fangs coming out to rest on his lower lip.

I wonder what you taste like, he thought as he stalked forward. We shall soon see.

The vampire raised the human from the wall, and turned him so that he was facing away. Yami wrapped one hand around the human's chest to keep him in place, and used the other to sweep his hair back and move the human's chin to one side.

Pity he should be no more so soon, he thought, I would have enjoyed having him more than once.

The human didn't feel any pain; he didn't even think. His vision had blurred until everything was a run of color, and his thoughts had followed that example and blended into one another in his mind. With the vampire's bite though, the effects of his paralysis began to slowly fade.

As his blood left him, the human began to notice feeling returning to his limbs. It was as if the vampire's feeding was also taking away the drug-like inducement that kept him paralyzed. Sometime in the middle of the feeding, the human's thought process returned to him and he began contemplating an escape from the vampire's clutches.

When strength at least returned to his fingers, the human knew it was time to act.

With a practiced move from countless hold-ups in the club alleys, the human jerked his elbow back into the vampire's stomach and brought up his hands to dig into the arm around his chest. The vampire let go in shock, and Yuugi used the moment to run to the edge of the roof and search for a way down.

Yami shook his head rapidly in disbelief, pushing off the wall and making sure he kept the human in his sight as his mind raced.

How is this possible? He searched his mind for an answer. No one should be able to break a vampire's paralysis. It should be unbreakable, he tried to convince himself.

And yet, this human has broken it, another part of his mind reminded him. Understandably, Yami began to get angry. He felt anger forming from the incompletion of his feeding, and even greater anger building from a supposedly unbreakable law of the Hunt being broken while with him, he who was one of the strongest in all the underworld. The impossibility of it all was grating on his nerves.

The vampire let out a growl, and watched the human jerk around to stare at him fearfully from his position on the edge of the roof. Yami gave a short growl that sounded almost like a bark and leaped forward, his superhuman strength carrying him to the edge in two leaps.

His anger rising to a crescendo and demanding action, Yami jerked up until he towered over the human, and snarled. The human gave a small sound of distress, and took a step backward, closer to the edge.

"V-vampire?" He murmured in question, his mind trying to understand what he was seeing.

The vampire took a step forward in opposition, his arm rising out in front of him. The human's eyes widened and he hitched his breath, his feet taking another step backward.

Only, there was nothing for him to step on. The human had finally reached the actual edge. With a small gasp, he lost his balance and began to fall.

The last that Yami saw of him were his wide, panicked eyes.

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**Notes**: This started off as a re-write of Dark Passions, but it's found a life of its own now. :D A lot more wild, vivacious, and just simply "out there". So…enjoy!


	2. Shark's Jaws

**_2: Shark's Jaws  
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There was no time to scream; no time to shout for help; no time to find a way to stop his fall. Yuugi was trapped in the grip of overwhelming panic and it rode his rational thoughts into the ground. 

_I'm going to die, death, pain, mangled limbs, impact, hard, brittle, bones, pain, pain, pain, PAIN_, the words repeated in his head like a broken mantra. Everything his imagination could come up with, he was experiencing in his head, and it all flashed past his senses as he fell. Distantly, the pieces of his broken logical mind cursed the longevity of the fall and the skyscraper he'd been on the roof of, before that too, was washed away.

_Pain, pain pain_, his mind screamed. _It's going to hurt. _

He caught his reflection in the floor to ceiling windows of the building and did a double take at his pale face and wide, crazy eyes. "_I'm going to die_," Yuugi whispered-

"No, you're not," Yami grunted as he grasped the human under his arms, and used his feet to push off from the building towards a lower one next to it. As he was in the air, he swung the human up until he was carrying him across both arms.

Yami landed with his knees bent, grunting with the added weight of the human to his own. He slowly raised himself until he was standing with the human in his arms and waited.

A minute or two later, the human realized nothing had happened and uncurled himself slowly. He raised his head on a trembling neck and looked down until he saw the roof underneath Yami's feet. He looked behind and saw the edge of the new roof they were on. He then looked up at the vampire's face; he must have seen something he trusted, because the next minute, he'd clamped his arms around the vampire's neck and was crying into his shoulder.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the human cried into his shoulder, "_Thank you_."

Yami stood rigidly, unsure of what to do. He realized that he'd just saved the human from most likely a gruesome death, but he wasn't ready to be on the receiving end of so much emotion. The vampire sat down against a generator and put the human in his lap, awkwardly patting his back. The human didn't seem to notice the change; he just kept screaming into Yami's jacket.

They sat that way for what felt like a long time. When the former finally stopped crying hysterically, he sat back and wiped his tears before shyly looking up at the vampire. His face was a bright red that Yami could see, even in the dark.

Yami just stared back, waiting for him to speak first.

"Sorry about that," the human muttered, looking down to the side.

Yami stayed silent; from his experience, when one didn't speak, the other made up for the silence. And Yami was using that tactic now; he hadn't had anyone as intriguing as this one in a very long time.

"I owe my life to you now," Yuugi realized, "If it weren't for you, I'd be dead, and no one the wiser.

Or richer," he added bitterly, then seemed to notice what he was saying and started again. "You're a vampire, aren't you?"

Yami nodded once; a regal nod that was worthy of his station in the underworld.

"Fuck me, but I didn't know you lot actually existed- there _are_ more of you, aren't there?" The human continued.

It was time to turn to get the human off the subject; the vampire wasn't about to spill the underworld's secrets left and right, even for one such as him.

Yami cleared his throat. "What is your name, light one?"

"'Light one'?" the human blinked, "The name's Yuugi. What's yours?"

"You may refer to me as Yami," the vampire replied, choosing to keep his status to himself.

"Yami?" Yuugi paused to wipe his nose on his sleeve. "Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but…why did you save me?"

Yami just looked at him, as if searching for the answer in the other's eyes. "I don't know." He kept the fact that Yuugi should be either dead or have already had his memory of the night wiped away to himself.

Yuugi straightened in surprise, "You…don't know?"

Yami shook his head slowly, "No, I don't."

Yuugi grinned slightly. "Well, then I guess I'm special, aren't I? Some lucky bitch I am, eh?"

Rather than replying with words, Yami shifted slightly under him, reminding Yuugi that he was still sitting on the vampire.

"Oh fuck, I'm sorry, Yami," Yuugi said and stood up, accidentally pushing into Yami's stomach as he did so. Though the vampire felt only slight pressure and no pain, it would have winded a human; and since Yuugi didn't know the difference between one and the other, Yami played along as said human began apologizing again and trying to find a way to make up for it.

"Shit, I've just been one nuisance after another, haven't I?" Yuugi spoke, using one hand to bring his bangs behind his ear. "I'll make it up to you, I promise; just come back home with me and I'll make you some of my special coffee, how's that?"

Before Yami could answer properly, Yuugi turned away and crawled, rather than walked, to the edge of the roof and looked around.

"Yami?" he called back to the vampire, "I…don't know how to get home from here."

"Do you need a map?" The vampire walked over to stand beside Yuugi's crouching form and offered a hand up; Yuugi grabbed it and used it to climb up Yami's body until he was clinging to the vampire again, all personal distance and dignity forgotten.

"No," Yuugi's response was muffled into Yami's jacket. "I mean I don't know how to get home from _here_. Up here. I don't spend much time in the city apart from the nightclubs, bars, and other such fun places in the redlight district."

"And you think that I would know how to help you?" the vampire looked down his arm at the human.

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" Yuugi justified, slightly on the defensive. "For all I know, you could have the ability to fly, push people into walls with your mind, and make large vans vanish into thin air."

Yami found that so amusing, he started to laugh. "Yes; in a way; and I haven't tried."

He laughed harder as he saw Yuugi's jaw drop open, him scrambling for a response. He managed one after a moment:

"So does that mean you can take me home?" Yuugi ventured, unsure of the answer.

Yami looked at him, "It's possible. Though, it will require me to 'read your mind', to use layman's terms. Is that a problem?"

Yuugi's eyes widened; then he deadpanned, "Read my mind? Now why would that be a problem? Who really needs privacy these days?"

Yami frowned at him, "Am I the one who needs help getting home?"

Yuugi smiled sheepishly, "No, you're right. Sorry."

"And stop apologizing," Yami commanded, irked by the constant 'sorry's.

Yuugi nodded. "Sor- I mean, reading my mind won't hurt, will it?"

Yami shook his head but took his arm out of Yuugi's grip, placing both hands on the human's shoulders instead. Yuugi felt his heart speed up in anticipation of bad news.

"Yuugi," Yami spoke slowly, "for me to understand exactly where you live and the best way to combine that location with my knowledge of this city, I need to get inside your mind" –Yuugi nodded- "But to do that, you need to open yourself to me. And the only way I can come up with to do that at this present time...is by scaring you."

Yuugi began to nod before jerking to a halt, "_What?_"

"The only way that I can think of to scare you," Yami continued as if Yuugi hadn't spoken, "is by, well, having you fall again."

There was a moment of silence in which Yuugi processed this information and Yami waited. Then-

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?" Yuugi shouted, the wind thankfully carrying his voice away before he woke the inhabitants of the building they were standing on. "YOU WANT ME TO FALL? LIKE I DID BEFORE, EXCEPT THIS TIME ON PURPOSE?" –This time, Yami nodded- "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING INSANE YOU SOUND?"

Yami kept nodding, and Yuugi fell silent.

After a minute, he looked up at the vampire again, "I've got two options: it's either crawl through one of the windows on this building - 'cause I see no goddamn stairs - and go through an embarassing ordeal with its tenants; no doubt they'll think I'm loony when I tell them I fell off a building and a vampire saved me _after pushing me off_, but there is it.

And wonderful still, my other choice is to jump off another builing _voluntarily_ so a vampire can get directions to my house

I can't stay up here forever."

"Are you sure?" Yami asked him.

Yuugi glared at him. "_No_. Does this look like the face of someone who's sure?"

"Then-" Yami began, but Yuugi interrupted:

"What are you expecting me to say? 'Oh _sure_, Yami, go ahead and throw me off the roof of the building so I can go home'? Just do it already."

Yami shrugged then, and pulled the human up onto the ledge of the roof with him; he steadied him and then let go.

"You'll catch me before I hit bottom, right?" Yuugi's voice wavered.

Yami opened his mouth to reassure the human that he would when he began receiving a code in his mind from a lesser creature of the dark. The code was complex, and requiring a majority of Yami's concentration to make sure it wasn't someone who shouldn't be in the territory at the moment; unfortunately, this level of concentration meant that Yami had stopped listening to Yuugi.

And unfortunate still, Yuugi had taken the vampire's silence as a reprimand for his nervousness, "You're right, Yami; of course, you'll catch me. Why else would you be suggesting I jump? Well, unless you're planning to kill me, but I'm ignoring that possibility for the moment."

And counting to three in his head, Yuugi took a step forward, and jumped off the forty-seven-story building.

Yami came back to the present a second later, having verified the code, to find the human not where he left him; it took another second for Yami to realize that Yuugi had gone ahead and jumped by himself. Yami cursed under his breath, and leaped off the building after him.

Yuugi, meanwhile, had started falling, almost positive that Yami would follow a second after. When the vampire didn't appear, Yuugi remembered with a grimace that he was supposed to be scared before Yami was to save him. The next moment, the wind turned his body around midair and he watched the ground get closer; and closer…and closer. Still no vampire.

_I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to DIE_, he screamed in his head. And then he realized that he didn't have to do it silently. This time, Yuugi wasn't afraid; this time, Yuugi was pissed. And so, he began cursing everything in general for willingly jumping off the building.

"WHAT AM I, SUICIDAL?" Yuugi shouted, the wind carrying his voice away again, "FUCK THIS BUILDING, FUCK GRAVITY, FUCK ASPHALT, FUCK MY BLOODY REMAINS-TO-BE, FUCK THE VAMPIRE, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

And of course, that was when Yami caught up to Yuugi and grabbed him just before they hit the ground. Yami landed on the road with a large clap of his metal boots against the asphalt; not having enough space and time this time to slow their descent.

"Well," Yami remarked after a minute, "At least now we know anger works just as well as fear in opening your mind. Thank you for participating in this study."

And then, while Yuugi was busy catching his breath and keeping himself from having another nervous breakdown, Yami laughing; loud, throaty laughs that shook his frame as well as Yuugi, who was still in his arms. That pushed the human back from the metaphorical edge he'd been about to fall off, and Yuugi turned his body to slap Yami across one cheek.

Yami didn't feel any pain, but he did drop the human in surprise; Yuugi managed to get his feet under him in time. He raised himself to point accusing at the vampire.

"You," he heaved, "are a) insane, b)untrustworthy, and c) TRYING TO KILL ME. _GOOD DAY_."

He swiveled about, which looked for a moment like he'd begun a dance, shaky as his legs were, and began marching down the empty street. Yami watched him go, giving something strangely resembling a giggle, and clamped a hand over his mouth; his hand was torn away moments later as he gave a great guffaw and began laughing again as he began to run after the human.

"I apologize," the vampire said. "It is just that no one has given me such a thrill in a long time."

"Oh yeah?" Yuugi crossed his arms and kept walking, "Well it must've been a _very_ long time then, if you find it so funny."

Yami blinked, but Yuugi wasn't finished.

"Ha! I could start a business out of that. '_Come throw Yuugi off a building_ _and get off on it!_' Oh, I can just see its popularity now."

"You're right; you're right," Yami tried to placate, "It's not amusing in the least."

Yuugi stopped and turned his head to look at the vampire, who was still trying to wipe the shit-eating grin off his face. "Oh, now I _know_ you're making fun of me."

The human began walking away again, and the vampire followed him in silence for another block. Yuugi was aware of the presence at his back, but having not thought of a witty enough remark to shoot, he hadn't said anything. Even when Yami coughed politely, trying to get Yuugi's attention, he ignored it. This went on for several blocks: the vampire coughing until it sounded like he had a brick lodged in his throat, and the human so oblivious he could have walked off the edge of a cliff and not noticed.

When they reached yet another intersection, Yuugi whirled about and gave the vampire an accusing glare. "Why are you stalking me?"

"Because you haven't given the inclination that you wanted to hear that you were going in the wrong direction," Yami said simply.

Yuugi saw white as his mouth opened and closed wordlessly. "You...you mean...but- ARE YOU SAYING YOU'VE KNOWN THAT I WAS GOING THE WRONG WAY AND YOU DIDN'T MENTION THIS FACT TO ME?"

"You like to yell, don't you?" Yami observed calmly. But before Yuugi could start up his tirade again, the vampire gave a low bow. "Well?"

Yuugi blinked. "Well what?"

"I am taking you home, am I not? Climb onto my back."

"I..." Yuugi trailed off, losing his train of thought. He shrugged. "Okay then."

He walked over to the vampire, unsure of how he was supposed to get on; as soon as he was near enough though, Yami straightened, took Yuugi's hands and in one fluid motion, swung him onto his back.

"Yami?" Yuugi suddenly remembered, "How do you know where I live? Do _not_ tell me that you knew all along."

Yami grinned, "Did I not mention that we now know anger works just as well as fear in opening your mind?"

"So that means?" Yuugi prompted, annoyed with the vampire's aversion to straight-forward answers.

"It means," Yami flexed his legs and tapped his boots on the road, "that I now know where you live. So relax, and let me drive."

Yuugi opened his mouth to argue that Yami wasn't _really_ driving him, but Yami shot off the ground at that moment and raced up the side of a neighboring building. He landed on the roof, and before Yuugi could process the speed at which he'd done that, Yami took off again.

He ran across the length of the roof, leaped over the edge onto the next one, and continued. The buildings became progressively higher each time, so the vampire increased the strength he used in his leaps; by that time, Yuugi felt like they were flying.

Yami found himself enjoying the human's laughter and amusement; it made him feel good- something that had happened rarely lately. And with the good feeling, the vampire decided to show off a little; who could blame him?

Yami sped up even more until the ground was a blur. He felt Yuugi tighten his hold on him when they reached the next building, one relatively taller than the one they were on and seemingly impossible to jump onto, and smirked.

"_Yami_," Yuugi shouted into his ear; they were going so fast that the wind whipped away all words spoken quietly. "_Yami, should you be going this way?_"

The vampire didn't answer him.

"_Yami, goddamnit_," Yuugi tightened his hold on Yami's shoulders even more. "_STOP_."

The vampire still hadn't reacted to his words. And then, they were flying off the roof, over the road, and there was no more time for Yuugi's warning. He swallowed a shout, and pressed himself in tighter against Yami's back.

The wind whistled beneath the vampire's feet and past his face, an insane grin on his lips; he rebounded off the new building's glass windows -Yuugi gave a squeak of fright- and digging his boot-clad feet into the small spaces of metal in between the glass, he raced up the side of the skyscraper. He nudged the human into looking up.

Yuugi gave a gasp as he watched the city get further and further away beneath him; it was like a dream. He was speechless. He saw the red light district in the distance; the clubs alit, and could have sworn he heard the phantom melody of his favorite song playing. He looked over to the right, and saw the wealthy district, where all the rich and snobby lived; no sound drifted over from there, but the lights looked to be lit in almost every window of the tall buildings

_Pretentious insomniacs_, Yuugi scoffed_. And they say we've got all the problems_.

He suddenly remembered where he was as the vampire reached the building's roof and landed on it. Expecting the joyride to calm a little from there, Yuugi released the breath he'd been holding and started to thank Yami for a nice thrill ride. What he didn't expect was for Yami to run across the roof to the other edge and look down; Yuugi understood everything in a moment of horrifying clarity.

"NO," he warned Yami.

Yami leaned them both more over the edge.

"_No_," Yuugi pleaded, "Yami, no, please, Ya-AAAAAH!"

Yuugi began to scream as the vampire fell over the edge. Yami kept his feet against the building until he was sliding down one of the metal strips between the windows; he pressed down harder with his metal-soled boots until sparks shot out beneath his feet. He nudged Yuugi again and forced him to look and see the city as it came closer, the lights and people in the distance growing bigger and more vibrant until they couldn't be anything but real.

The building sloped at the bottom, the metal supports curving into interesting scultpures at the four ends of the building. Yami used the curves they made to slow them down, jumping off just before the sculpture to a neighboring, red, brick building.

It was only when the deafening screech of metal against metal stopped that Yami heard Yuugi's laughter. The human was laughing so hard that he'd lost strength in his grasp on the vampire's coat, and was slipping downward. Yami helped him slide down gently until Yuugi touched ground, and then he let go.

He turned to the human and bowed with a grin, "Enjoy yourself?"

"Did I?" Yuugi managed; his eyes were wide and shining, his skin flushed. "That was fucking exhilarating! I've never done anything like that- Well, I've never met a vampire before either to it explains itself, but- oh my GOD, that was good.

"I should kill you for that, you know," Yuugi paused to take a breath, looking up at Yami, "But thank you."

"Have I made my points?" Yami asked him, crossing his arms.

Yuugi gave him a look, "Points?"

"Yes," the vampire replied, "To show you that not all falling is a bad thing" -"Oh, I got that one alright," Yuugi murmured with a slight smile- " "And my other was to show you a semblance of the thrill I hadn't felt in a while."

Yuugi looks down and rubbed his arms, embarrassed and feeling like a right fool. Thankfully, Yami took pity on him and broke the silence.

"So, what was it you said about coffee?"


	3. Fly me to the Moon

**_3: Fly me to the Moon_**

* * *

There was a loud clatter as the umbrella stand fell to the floor and umbrellas rolled away left and right. Yami bent down to gather them together again, but Yuugi stopped him.

"Just leave them," he whispered loudly, "The morning doorman will get it."

"It's not polite to just leave things you've dropped on the floor," Yami admonished, straightening.

"Well, it's not my fault you keep smacking into them, is it?" Yuugi shot back.

"I wouldn't _be_ smacking into things if I didn't have to follow your directions," Yami whispered back, exasperated. "Tell me why I am, again?"

Yuugi jumped onto the railing of the stairs and looked up as he spoke. "Because of the two of us, only _I_ know where my apartment is, and the lady on the next floor will murder me in my bed, as well as assume things I don't want to be assumed, for waking her up because I'm bringing a guy home with me at almost four in the morning."

"Oh, that's right," Yami said dryly. His hand darted out to pull the human back in before Yuugi lost his balance and fell over the railing.

"Alright, I don't hear anything; I think she's asleep," Yuugi told the vampire and took a breath. "Cue Mission Impossible music here."

Yami's brow furrowed; before he could ask, Yuugi took his arm and pulled him up the stairs after himself. As they turned on the landing to climb the next set of stairs, Yuugi's other arm brushed the tall vase standing on the table and it began to rock precariously. It finally chose a side and began to fall to the ground, sure to make a racket; Yami noticed just in time and his foot shot out to catch it, balancing it there while Yuugi looked on, slack-jawed.

"You sure you weren't a football player ever?" Yuugi asked.

"Pretty sure," Yami replied, and jumped sideways to keep the vase balanced. "Would you mind? This is a bit difficult."

"What?" Yuugi asked blankly, then realized and rushed forward to take the vase.

They placed it gently back on the table continued up the stairs. This time, Yuugi let Yami walk under his own willpower.

After two more floors, and Yuugi stopped Yami in front of a door. Yami took one look at the door and turned his head to raise an eyebrow at the human. Yuugi smiled innocently, though the vampire wasn't fooled.

The door was darker than the others on the floor, the wood just short of being black. What stood out, though, was the nails beat into the door from top to bottom. Yami assumed they'd been shot through from the inside; the door they were facing was covered with the sharp ends and not the heads.

"Well, someone likes his privacy," Yami remarked, amused.

Yuugi dug one hand in his shirt, between all of the belts, and fished out a large, black key on a silver chain. He saluted the vampire with it before inserting it into the keyhole in the middle of the door, and turning.

He pushed the door open and walked in, signaling Yami after him. "Welcome, to my humble abode."

Yami stepped through the door and immediately knocked over the dresser standing in front of it. Before it could hit the floor and inevitably wake up the whole complex with its noise, Yami snaked an arm around to the back and righted it. Yuugi let out a breath from where he'd been standing to the vampire's left, and Yami looked over to see him lowering his hands from his face.

"Watch out for the dresser?" Yuugi said sheepishly.

"A little belated, that," Yami replied dryly. "I didn't think I'd need to use any of my vampiric attributes with you- Then again, you've already proved me wrong several times, what with you falling off buildings left and right, and all. Mind telling me why you have a dresser in the doorway in the first place?"

"I like it there," Yuugi sniffed, "It's convenient."

Yami snorted, "For whom, midgets or anorexics? You'd have to either be incredibly petite or incredibly thin not to find that dresser annoying."

"Aww, is the big, bad vampire pissed at the dresser that bested him?" Yuugi mocked, turning around to walk down the hall and through another doorway.

"It did not best me," Yami corrected, though with a slight pout, as he followed the human into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, both were sat at the table against the window with mugs of...hot water.

Yami looked down at his mug as he put the teabag into it, and snorted again. Yuugi looked up from his own attempts with mug and tea bag and glared at him.

"Shut up," he shot at Yami, though this only caused the vampire to shake, struggling not to laugh out loud. "It's not funny."

"Oh, of course not," Yami nodded his head, his face going blank. "It's not funny that you put too much coffee in the coffee maker and it exploded all over the kitchen. It's not funny that when you got out the mop to clean it up, the rest of the closet collapsed without the mop to hold the shelves up and you were covered in canned goodies. Oh, and it's not funny that the teapot spit at you when you put it on the stove."

Yuugi looked at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing; Yami joined him a second later.

"Well, when you say it like that," Yuugi wiped his eyes, "it _is_ funny."

"Oh good," Yami choked, "Glad you finally see the light."

They passed a moment in silence, chuckles sounding from one of them now and again. Then, Yuugi's spoon clattered to the table and huffing, he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Right. I don't get this tea shit. Yami, help me," he commanded, looking forlornly at Yami, who was sitting calmly and sipping his own tea. Without a word, the vampire placed his mug on the table and extended one hand for Yuugi's mug and a new tea bag.

"The thing about tea," Yami began as he walked over to the sink and dumped out the water in the mug, "is that you can't rush it, like you can coffee. There is no 'instant mix' for it; it's just not that simple."

He walked over to Yuugi's fridge and fished around the junk food in there until he found a lemon. Yuugi sat in his seat and silently watched the vampire go about his kitchen, knowing what he was doing.

"In fact," the vampire continued, cutting a couple of slices of lemon and putting them in the mug; he followed that by a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, "the process of tea-making can be applied to the majority of things in life. All must be taken with caution and patience; these are things that one must have to succeed."

Yami mashed the lemon and sugar until he created a sugary paste; then, he put the tea bag in the mug and poured hot water into it. He sat down at the table again and passed the mug back to Yuugi.

"You were just waiting for me to ask for your help, weren't you?" Yuugi asked, looking at Yami suspiciously.

Yami smiled, "Maybe."

They shared a look; after it, Yuugi sighed and picked up his tea, taking a sip. Yami watched expectantly as the human replaced the mug a moment later and licked his lips, an incredulous expression on his face.

"This is some good shit." Yuugi looked like he was surprised to find the words coming out of his own mouth. Yami chuckled, and Yuugi looked at him.

"No, seriously," he protested. "How did you know I'd like it with this sugar and lemon stuff?"

The vampire spread his hands and shrugged, "You didn't look like you had had tea very often, so I made it the way I, myself, was introduced to it."

Yuugi took another sip, "Thanks. Again." He looked at Yami over his mug and saw him doing a bad job of hiding his self-satisfaction

"And stop smirking at me," he added in a pout. The vampire let out a smile and stood up from the table. Yuugi looked at him in question.

"You're leaving?" Yuugi tilted his head to one side in a gesture that induced such a reaction in Yami that he felt dizzy for a moment; but, it passed.

"Yes," the vampire replied when he steadied. Yuugi didn't seem to notice anything had occurred.

"I must be off before dawn, I'm sure you know," Yami continued. Then, he raised an eyebrow. "I trust you won't be falling off any more roofs tonight?"

Yuugi had the grace to look embarrassed. "Yeah, thanks for saving me again."

"Nothing to worry about," Yami called over his shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen and down the hall; Yuugi got up and followed him.

At the door, the vampire turned back to say something and caught Yuugi gazing at him curiously. Yuugi had his head tilted to the side and a slight frown on his lips; the combination was almost too cute for the vampire to handle. He instantly forgot whatever he'd been going to say and just stood there with his mouth slightly open.

"What?" Yuugi furrowed his brow.

Yami shook his head. "Good night."

He whirled around, and with a swish of his black cloak, seemingly dissolved into the blackness outside of Yuugi's front door. He'd left so fast that Yuugi had only been in the middle of responding with '_Good n-_'

He blinked as he realized the vampire had gone. "Well fuck. He didn't even wait for me to reply."

He blinked again and, muttering to himself, he closed his heavy, nail-embedded door, the sound echoed down the hall, then the stairs of his apartment complex. Yami just laughed quietly to himself as he glided down the stairs and away.

* * *

Ryou moaned again, this time louder, and Bakura moved a hand up to clamp over his mouth. With his other hand, he slid off Ryou's filmy, black shirt and trailed his fingers over the other's naked chest, inducing even more moans. 

The rough surface of the brick wall at Ryou's back and the feel of Bakura's soft skin against his own was a melding of pain and pleasure that was so excruciatingly sweet that Ryou wanted to scream; he shoved his fist into his mouth to muffle himself. His legs went weak and Bakura followed him as he slid down the wall and onto the ground.

A low chuckle rumbled up from Bakura's throat as he noticed where Ryou's fist was. "Quiet, Ryou; they'll find us."

Ryou hitched his breath as a cool hand slid down into his leather pants, but managed to nod jerkily. "B-Bakura," he gasped, "I don't think I can manage that with what you're doing."

"Oh?" Bakura replied, as his other hand came down Ryou's chest to join the other in his pants, both hands encircling his body to bring him closer to Bakura. "Shall I have to take certain…measures, then?"

"Wha-?" Ryou was abruptly cut off as Bakura covered his mouth in a deep kiss; Bakura's tongue came out to run along Ryou's lips and then his teeth while his hands worked to undo the laces on Ryou's pants.

"Goddamnit, Ryou," Bakura muttered between kisses, "Why do you always have to tie your pants so fucking _tight_?"

Ryou couldn't help but grin. "So that you have to work to get them off, of course."

Bakura growled in frustration at him, a growl which eventually turned into a laugh. It was then that he managed to undo one of the knots, and with a wink at Ryou, he pulled the string until the other knots followed suit and the pants were undone.

Bakura dived down and began licking wet trails down Ryou's chest to the laces of his unfastened pants, sending tremors up Ryou's body. Very soon, he'd zeroed in on the pants themselves, and with a practiced move, he peeled away the leather from Ryou's legs.

"None of those sexy, black panties you have, Ryou?" Bakura remarked upon realizing that there was nothing between him and Ryou anymore.

"I couldn't wear them with these pants," Ryou gasped loudly as Bakura leaned forward and took his cock between his lips.

Bakura chuckled again to show his appreciation; the vibrations traveled up into Ryou and made him hitch his breath again.

Bakura licked lazy circles up and down the shaft, each circle pushing Ryou even closer to the edge until he thought he was losing his mind. Just before Ryou's breaking point, Bakura leaned forward and enveloped all of Ryou in his mouth. With a jerk, he twisted his mouth off Ryou's cock and was satisfied when Ryou give a small scream. He did it again, and Ryou's scream was louder this time.

Bakura grinned evilly and began swirling Ryou's cock over and over again; each time, knowing it drove Ryou a bit more out of his mind. Without warning, Ryou reached that edge and leapt off it, his skin afire. For a moment, he couldn't think, couldn't breathe; then, everything reversed and he slammed back into his body, his throaty scream echoing in his ears.

"Well now you've done it," Bakura admonished, his eyes scanning the dark for the shouts they could hear around the corner of the alley they were in. "Get dressed- faster, love. We'll dash back into the club and pretend like we never left. That should put 'em off, eh?"

"But Bakura," Ryou struggled to tie his pants with one hand before Bakura knocked his hands out of the way and tied it himself. "We didn't finish."

"'Course we didn't," Bakura looked up to give his boyfriend a grin that implied sleep wasn't on the agenda for them that night. "We'll continue once the die-fucking-hard fans have been…_satisfied._" Bakura managed to make the last word sound much dirtier than it really was.

"Oh yeah?" Ryou raised an eyebrow, "And how do you plan on _satisfying_ these fans?"

"The usual way," Bakura wrapped an arm around Ryou's shoulders and began steering him down the alley and around the corner to the club's seldom-used backdoor; behind them, the shouts grew closer. "Mindfuck them until they're too far gone to notice us slipping away. Will you do your table-hopping trick tonight?"

Ryou pondered that for a moment as they stepped through the backdoor and continued down the empty hallway. "That might be difficult with no underwear tonight, but hell, why not try?"

"That's my Ryou," Bakura praised and stepped aside to let him go through the second door and out onto the dance floor first.

"I do get tired of such rabid fans," Ryou sighed as immediately, one of the barmaids recognized him as the dance legend that he was and rushed over to fawn on him. Bakura chuckled behind him as he stepped though the door and melted into the shadows.

"You've got five minutes, love," Bakura whispered, "I want the night to stay young."

Five minutes later, the music was cut with a loud rip and everyone in the club froze for a minute, taken unawares. Then-

"Ladies and gents, guess who's paid us a visit tonight?"

Shouts of approval came from the club occupants who knew what was going on; the occupants that didn't were quickly informed.

The bright neon lights that had kept the dance floor lit began to go out one-by-one; the next moment, a large spotlight turned on and swiveled around to point to the empty countertop of the bar.

It quickly grew quiet in the club as tension built and people shifted impatiently. The next minute or two stretched out painfully as they waited; the club's occupants began to lose confidence and shifted some more.

It was then that Ryou leaped onto the bar's countertop and into the spotlight. He had changed his clothes and now sported a flashy hat on his head and a black pinstripe suit that seemed to suck in the light; no undershirt could be seen under his suit.

The club went up in applause as their confidence in the proceedings was renewed. Ryou didn't make any indication that he noticed the applause; he kept his face towards the ground; the black hat contrasting sharply with his white, white hair; the only thing the audience could see.

While the crowd called to him, some even propositioning him, Ryou began to slowly raise his hands from where they'd been at his sides to the buttons on his suit. Then a steady beat started up and pounded through the club; Ryou's hips started to gyrate to the music and a cheer came from the club.

Bakura frowned at the response. "Bloodthirsty bastards," he muttered as another excited cheer went up; Ryou had finished unbuttoning and was now slowly moving the sides of his suit jacket to his sides, revealing each inch in beat with the music and his gyrating.

The entire crowd was spellbound; the other dancers followed Ryou's every move, scrambling to memorize the dance legend's moves in the hopes of repeating them later. But if the dancers were almost immobile in their efforts, then the females in the crowd - barmaids, bartenders, showgirls, and the like – were positively rowdy. In their frenzied state, they couldn't keep still; it was only the other men in the crowd who kept them from throwing away their dignity and leaping on the bar.

A sudden, sharp stab of notes in the beat prompted Ryou to twist sideways and curve his back to swipe off his jacket in one smooth, fluid motion; he spun it around his body and over his head as the ladies in the crowd realized what he was wearing underneath.

_I am a big man, yes, I am, and I've got a big gun_

Shiny, black leather straps danced around his body, meeting around his neck, at his biceps, at his wrists, and extending into his pants and out of sight. Between these straps was black netting that seemed to make Ryou's pale skin and hair shine in the light. The effect was so sudden and overwhelming that it took a moment for eyes to adjust, but when they did, it took double the effort to restrain the crowd.

_Got me a big, old dick, and I, I like to have fun_

Ryou didn't stop there; he flicked his wrist and sent his jacket out into the crowd, where several barmaids fought for possession, as he crouched and then back-flipped across the bar counter; his last flip included a twist in the air, after which he landed on the very edge of the bar and somersaulted in the air to the nearest table.

_Held against your forehead, I'll make you suck it_

The people who'd been sitting at it hadn't been interested in Ryou's dance, and so received quite a shock when he landed on their table, balancing on one foot between their beer bottles and glasses. He looked down at the two ladies gaping at him on one side of the table and smirked as he saluted them and then the two guys glaring at him on the other side.

_Maybe I'll put a hole in your head, you know, just for the fuck of it_

Ryou bent his leg, and shot off the table to the next one, also with people uninterested in what the rest of the club was watching, and this time, landing on both legs and crouching down to eye level of the people staring at him in indignation. He turned toward one very refined-looking lady and lifted the wine glass she'd been holding out of her hand while absently wondering what she was doing at a nightclub; Ryou proceeded to drink the contents of the glass and hand it back to the lady, laughing at her shocked expression.

_I can reduce you if I want, I can devour_

He did another aerial somersault on the way to the next table and actually sat down on top of it with his legs on either side, to the surprise and then joy of the girls sitting at it. Arching his back, Ryou brought his hands up and swung himself around on the table, stopping in front of the one girl who was staring at the ground in embarrassment. He reached out a hand and lifted the girl's chin up while her friends watched in envy; he mouthed the words of the song as her eyes grew wider.

_I'm hard as fucking steel, and I've got the power_

The poor girl's eyes looked ready to pop out of her head, when Ryou let her go and stood up on his hands before flipped right-side up and jumping across to the next table, though it was empty. The next three tables after that one were empty too, so Ryou took advantage of that and turned back to the roaring crowd.

_I'm every inch a man, and I'll show you somehow_

He winked at one of the barmaids and as she screamed in excitement, he brought his hands up, bent over, and began to alternate between back flips on the tables and smooth spins across the divide between tables. The crowd roared their approval at Ryou's every perfect landing and swiftly began to close in on him, moving past table, chair, and people sitting in them.

_Me and my fucking gun, nothing can stop me now_

"Bakura, I could use a little help here," Ryou muttered as he watched the people get closer and closer, his back to the wall.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, I wanna come all over you_

It was when the eager crowd was only feet away that Bakura swung down from the rafters and grabbed Ryou's arms, throwing him up to catch on a neighboring rafter. The people below struggled to see them in the surprising darkness above.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, I'm gonna come all over you_

"Ready?" Ryou shouted to Bakura over the music. Bakura just nodded, grinning hungrily at his boyfriend.

They jumped from rafter to rafter until they were over the small stage in front of the dance floor. Bakura reached a hand out to his right without looking and Ryou took it, letting Bakura swing him down towards the stage while still holding on to him; Bakura jumped off after him, and slowing their descent by grabbing on to the rafter at the last minute.

To the ever-growing crowd watching them, the renowned pair seemed to have teleported to the stage, and they cheered in enjoyment.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, I wanna come all over you_

As soon as Ryou and Bakura's feet touched the stage, they began to dance. But it was not so much a dance as a fight for dominance.

As Bakura darted forward, Ryou bent backwards, letting Bakura's body smoothly pass over his own, only millimeters below. Then, he retaliated with his own attack; Ryou's arm shout out in a sweeping, graceful movement that made his skin sparkle in the light and brought his arm in line with his boyfriend's head.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, I'm gonna come all over you_

The movement seemed to slow and be seen with amazing clarity as Bakura turned his face and let the fist just brush against his cheek. The momentum from his attempted punch carried to the rest of his body, so as Ryou continued his turn, Bakura took advantage of it and turned his own body to send a kick in Ryou's direction.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, I wanna come all over you_

Right before Bakura's boot-clad foot was sure to connect with a knee, Ryou's legs bent and he shot off the ground into a back flip. Landing on one arm, he spun in the arm and spliced his legs apart, creating a brilliantly black and white whirlwind that kept Bakura occupied for a moment; it took only a moment for him to spot Ryou's weak point.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, I'm gonna come all over you_

Dropping to the ground, Bakura lunged across the ground and grabbed the arm that was holding Ryou up, jerking it after himself as he flew passed Ryou's location and turned them both upright.

_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, me and my fucking_ _gun_

"Enough play," Bakura growled, not caring if Ryou heard him. An arm went around Ryou's waist, pressing into the small of his back and making him arch his spine with a gasp.

_Me and my fucking gun_

The other hand wound itself in Ryou's hair and tugged it from side to side in time to the beat as they waited for the music to finish changing from one song to the next, moving simultaneously.

Moving as one, they began to widen their movements, becoming more daring as the crowd cheered and joined in on the dance floor around them.

Ryou wound around Bakura, his arms and legs making taunting gestures and trailing down Bakura's own limbs. Bakura returned in kind; his hands formed the air around his partner, his torso bending in seemingly impossible positions to avoid touching Ryou.

And suddenly, their movements weren't so tentative anymore. As Ryou spun around, Bakura's hands found their way around his waist again and increased the speed; it ended with Ryou in his boyfriend's arms and said boyfriend spoke to him with his eyes.

Limbs moved together, their movements synchronized, and motions paralleled each other until their bodies seemed to meld into one that had the crowd almost in ecstasy.

As the chorus came back, Ryou came back to stand in line with Bakura and they flew across the stage in harmony, jerked back at the edge, and cocked an imaginary hat.

Bakura and Ryou spun around and calmly walked off the stage together, unnoticed by the crowd, preoccupied with its own pleasure and enjoyment now. And the passion Bakura and Ryou had had only moments before wasn't lost; it had only been put aside until they would reach home.

And more specifically, the bedroom.

* * *

**Notes**: The lyrics were from Big Man with a Gun by Nine Inch Nails, and I thought it really fit the scene. I love that song; you should too. And yes, I do seem to have a tea fetish; if it's not evident now, it will be in future chapters. XD Thanks for reading, and please **_review_**. 


	4. Can't Go Back

**_4: _****_Can't Go Back_**

* * *

"No, goddamnit! That's not how he did it either!" Yuugi exclaimed for the third time in just the past ten minutes. He followed with a growl and put down his mug hard on the table, causing the hot water to splash out onto his hand. 

"Ow! Goddamnit again!" Yuugi sucked on his hand as he ran over to the sink and turned on the cold water; he plunged his burned hand under the faucet and immediately felt better enough to partake in his favourite pastime: slandering himself. "Oh, well done. Couldn't have carried this out any better, could you? What, don't you have the capacity to make yourself some tea?"

His hand cooled but still throbbing, Yuugi turned off the water.

"And so easy it seemed, too," Yuugi muttered to himself as he dried his hand with the red towel hanging on the handle of the oven. He let himself fall back to lean against the counter and sighed in defeat.

"I suck," he admitted, almost painfully. "I suck, but I want tea; quite badly since I've spent this entire morning trying to make myself a cup. Stupid, addicting shit."

As if in reprimand to the insult, the burn on his hand throbbed harder and Yuugi exclaimed again, "Ow, shit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Stop fucking HURTING, damn you!"

He raced over to the fridge and after some quick rummaging, extracting a ridiculously blue, instant ice pack and wrapping it in his towel, put it over the burn.

"Man, do I hate burns," Yuugi sulked as he walked back to the table and took a seat on the wide window sill. The curtain fell behind him, leaving Yuugi in a pocket of silence with only him and the city below.

"It always does look so innocent by day," Yuugi murmured, letting his forehead come to rest against the cool glass. He sighed, one side of his mouth curving up into a tired smile. "Who'd've thought I'd find a vampire in it?- Well, actually, he found me."

Yuugi sighed again and looked down at his watch, noting the time. "Wonderful; it's time for work. Doesn't that just make my day?"

He threw the curtain back and jumped down off the sill, grabbing his keys from the counter as he walked out of the kitchen, humming. A moment later, the front door slammed and a loud whoop echoed through the apartment complex as Yuugi slid down the banisters to the first level, leaving the building to a pissed-off old lady who had been abruptly woken from her nap.

* * *

"I want a copy of the fax to the president of Taiwan, the draft of the contract with the prime minister of Malaysia, and someone send me the company's stock market data, and our current company performance! Now!" The CEO of Kaiba Corp. shouted across his outer office and sent people scattering out of his way. "And Clarisse, I wanted my coffee _ten_ minutes ago!" 

There was a general, frantic rumble of "Yes, sir; got it, sir; right away, sir." as the office scrambled to get his orders fulfilled.

Seto stopped in front of the big glass doors leading to his inner office, and turned to survey the hustle and bustle. "Ah," he sighed, his hands on his hips, "I do so love the sound of panicked feet scurrying to do my bidding."

"Sir? The contract with Dungeon Dicers is still delayed indefinitely," one of the countless 'suits' in Seto's office informed him, "Their CEO claims he's just misplaced it and will get back to you as soon as he finds it."

Seto gave a frustrated groan. "It's Dungeon _Dice_, you dunce, and the contract's been on hold for two months already. Send one of our attractive interns over there and have them talk him around- Make sure she's intelligent too, and not like the last one," he ordered and raised a hand to rub his forehead.

"The day's just started and already I've got problems," he muttered, "Thank god the guy's a complete womanizer."

"Sir, Connect-It Electrical is on the phone; they want to know if we require their services at the duel arena for the next tournament," a messenger from the phone operators told him in short, clipped words but still respectful.

Seto snorted. "Tell them that of course, we _don't_. For their horrid service at the last one, and combined with the unreasonably high rates, I don't want to hear from them for the next twenty years; and if they do, I'll make sure that they don't bother anyone at all. Permanently."

The messenger nodded once, his bearing quite military-like, "Understood, sir," and marched back to the doors.

"All that was missing was a salute," Seto muttered to himself again. No questions came his way for a few minutes and the CEO took a moment to just survey his company, finding himself filling with pride at the hard work he could see being accomplished.

'_I'll have to give them a holiday or something along those lines_,' he wrote himself a mental note.

"S-sir?" Clarisse, his secretary, bobbed at his elbow, her glasses askew and precariously balancing a coffee tray on two large textbooks and three bulging manila folders; the gust of wind from a passing coworker almost overturned her stack and sent the poor secretary into a flurry as she tried to keep it all upright. Seto watched this display with a weird expression on his face, almost amused, but struggling not to show it.

"Right this way," Seto held the door open for his subordinate in a show of consideration. As she crab-walked past him, Seto covered his chuckle as a sneeze; when that caused Clarisse to cry out and veer sharply to the right as her stack swayed again, Seto was forced to cover his outbreak of laughter as a coughing fit, though that hardly managed to hide it entirely.

Clarisse finally reached his desk and dumped her load on top, thanking god that the desk was its usual spotlessness. She turned to regard her employer with a raised eyebrow and a wry smile, stepping up her familiarity now that they were in private. The hum of the rest of the company could be heard in the background, but it Seto's office, they could forget about it for a moment.

"Next time you ask for so much at once," She reprimanded only half-jokingly, "why don't you talk to one of the interns first? They've got next to none dignity to lose; I, on the other hand, was laughed at from the first floor all the way up to this one."

Seto raised his eyebrow in return and let his own smile come to his lips. "Oh dear, all nineteen floors? Well, I can't imagine that can't have been a lot; you took the elevator, did you not?"

"I did," Clarisse wiped her brow, "And even the custodians snickered at me as they rode down for their break!"

Seto snorted again, muffling the last part of it behind his sleeve; Clarisse crossed her arms at him. He tried to ignore her and came over to his desk for the coffee, toasting her before he drank, "Thanks, by the way."

The secretary sighed. "I've got the Newcomer's Market report for our new expansion- we're doing very well- and our status in the company rankings – we're still at the top – as well as our position in that oil company's stocks – in which we are doing-"

"Yes, we're doing very well. I know," Seto waved her off and she began dusting and straightening his suit jacket, from which he stepped away, disgruntled. "Clarisse, how many times do I have to tell you to _stop_ that? Just because I'm single doesn't mean I can't take care of myself."

"Oh, but I do so wish you'd give my other friend a chance," she tutted and began straightening the room instead, much as it didn't need it.

"What, so she can bore me for another hour with stories about her day care and how children do the most _adooorable_ things?" Seto replied, mimicking the girl.

"Or how about the one who tried to give _me_ a make over? 'You need to bring out your feminine side more _often_, darling!'" he mimicked again, this time bringing up his hands to help shake his head from side to side.

"Or wait for it, how about the one who wanted to run me over with her pickup truck to see if she could get in to Ripley's Believe It Or Not?" Seto rubbed his chest absently and walked around his desk to take a seat. "The point is, Clarisse, I don't have time to be bored half to death, to be given a 'new look', or to have my rib cage come out through my spine."

Said woman wrinkled her nose and just looked at him.

Seto noticed and grinned, "That last image _was_ a little gruesome, wasn't it?"

Clarisse nodded and sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine; you win. For now. But I will be back; and you know why? Because you need to be _loved,_ Seto; and kissed; and squeezed till your brains come out your nose instead of your spine and your eyes pop out from the pressure and blood gushes out your eye sockets and-"

"Enough!" Seto roared, his expression disgusted and amused at the same time. He threw one of the textbooks on the desk at Clarisse. "Get out of my office!"

She ran out, laughing.

* * *

Yuugi's mood had exponentially improved by the time he arrived at work. 

He'd walked past a naked husband on the street being yelled at by his wife as she threw his belongings out the window- none of which were clothes, Yuugi noted; he smiled in the secret knowledge that the wife would forgive the husband for his misdeeds before the week was out.

On the subway, he'd had a front row seat to a shouting match between one couple; from what he construed, the girlfriend thought her boyfriend was eyeing her cousin who was in town for the weekend.

"_You want me to _not_ eye her?" the guy sputtered. The girlfriend nodded matter-of-factly._

"_And how am I supposed to do that and not have your cousin-dearest think I'm insulting her? Just last week you were harping on about me being a rude bastard!" the guy exclaimed, incredulous. Yuugi nodded along with him, unseen by the quarreling pair._

"_All I'm asking is for you to be more considerate of my feelings!" the girl yelled back, gesturing wildly, "Is that so much to ask?"_

"_Was asking you to take out the garbage too much to ask too?" the male rebounded. "All I wanted was some help around the house without you screaming 'injustice!' at me!"_

"_It was the principle of the matter!" the girl stomped her foot, "I just don't want my boyfriend to be a pansy!" Yuugi nodded along with her as well, reluctantly seeing that she had a point as well._

"_How many times do I have to tell you; it's not pansy!" the guy pulled at his hair, "Most women would kill to have a guy who cares about the place he lives in!"_

"_Oh, I knew it!" the girl cried, tears coming to her eyes. "You don't love me and you think our apartment is ugly!"_

Of course, the tears had clinched it; the male half of the relationship had immediately softened and gone to comfort his girlfriend; automatically ending the fight in the girl's favor by promising anything to make her feel better. She'd looked up at him when he hit upon what she wanted from him, and Yuugi saw the total adoration for him in her eyes, mirroring his for her. She giggled quietly and let her boyfriend led her to a seat; Yuugi just shook his head slowly, a small smile on his lips, '_Perfect match._'

And what would have definitely made his day, if not for these other instances, was the image in the park of a wizened, old man and his cane slowly scooting over on a bench towards a smiling, elderly lady feeding the pigeons. So old, the both of them were, but so promising was the scene; Yuugi couldn't help but feel a tug at his heart strings, and he walked away feeling happy and ready to cry at the same time.

He finally reached the Kaiba building whistling, a bounce in his step.

"Mornin' Marik, babe," he called to the door man, and sometimes bouncer, slouching against the wall who's eyes were following people in and out of the building.

The door man grinned and chuckled as he recognized his friend. "How many times have I asked you not to call me that, Yuugi?" he responded, his voice deep, hoarse.

"Just as many times as I've ignored it," Yuugi responded cheekily. "Wanna meet for a drink after work, buddy? Maybe hit a club?"

"No clubbin' during the week, love; you know I won't let you go no matter how many times you ask," Marik reminded, still grinning to lighten the reproach.

"Doesn't hurt to try," Yuugi agreed, then mock-pouted, "Though I still don't understand why you can call me that when I can't use any nicknames on you."

Marik's rumbling chuckle echoed through the marble elevator lobby, "Simple; because I'm manlier than you."

'That's it," Yuugi challenged, "Drink-off after work tonight. You, me, and thirty-nine bottles of beer on McGyver's wall."

"Ooh, nifty," Marik commended Yuugi's rendition of the well-known beer chant. "Just for that, I accept, though you'll be going home in a wheelbarrow tonight and waking up with an ax in your forehead tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuugi called as he walked towards the elevators. Pressing the button for the lift, he turned back to point at Marik, "Buddy, I think you've got it backwards; _you'll_ be the one in the wheelbarrow…and I'll be pushing!"

The doors closed and Yuugi rode up to the nineteenth floor, his good mood making him feel invincible.

* * *

**Notes:** Well, this is much easier to write now that I've got a general idea of what I'm doing. Ah, I've also changed the extended summary in the first chapter to correspond with my plans, so if you want to check back from time to time with that, I'll change it accordingly. I don't know if I'll even keep fannon pairings in this fic; I've got some ideas, see. Thank you for reading and thank you guys who've reviewed. Please keep at it, and do tell me if you spot any mistakes anywhere. XD Ah, and to the one who left me a flame: you made me laugh for quite a long time, and I needed it, so thanks to you, too. 


	5. Operator

**_5: Operator_**

* * *

The abrupt ringing of the house phone roused Ryou from sleep and he shot up in bed, blindly groping around for the edge of the covers while Beethoven's Fifth echoed throughout his apartment in an annoying polytonic ringtone. 

"Damn," Ryou muttered, half asleep, as he untangled himself from the bed covers and swung his feet down towards his slippers, "phone."

Stumbling out of bed, Ryou had to use the wall to make his way to the kitchen; partly because he needed the support, but partly because he couldn't really see where he was going. All the drinking from the night before was finally catching up to him and making him see double.

In the kitchen doorway, Ryou tripped and was sent sprawling across the wood floor, slippers flipping away and robe slipping off. He groaned, "Perfect."

Ryou snapped upright angrily and jerked the phone off the hook.

"I'm warning you now, you won't like me if you don't have a good reason for waking me up," he growled.

The person on the other end snorted, amused, "Well, isn't that nice? Love you too, Ryou."

"Hey Yuugi," Ryou sighed and relaxed, jumping up on the counter next to the phone, "Obviously now that I can't go back to sleep, what do you want?

"Ooh, how direct," Yuugi replied jokingly. "Ignoring the fact that you're still sleeping at noon- I bet you and that boyfriend of yours were up at all hours having 'fun', weren't you? Enjoy yourself, did you? How was it-"

"Yuugi!" Ryou interrupted, unsure whether to laugh or be indignant; he settled for a mixture of both. "Did no one ever tell you the meaning of 'ignoring'? You nosy bastard, you."

"Yeah, yeah; you know you like sharing your bedroom escapades; especially when drunk," Yuugi trailed off suggestively; Ryou felt a small shiver of panic when he thought about what he might've told already.

"Listen, me and Marik are having a little get-together down at McGyver's after work today," Yuugi continued. "What d'you say, join us?"

Ryou groaned, "Don't tell me you challenged him to yet _another_ drink off. Have you forgotten so soon what happened last time? You passed out around the twentieth bottle and when you came to, you thought your name was Suzanne, you had five cats that ate only _foie gras_, and we were your hired catering service for the oldest cat's birthday."

Yuugi burst out laughing, "Oh yeah! But I was fine later, wasn't I?"

Ryou snorted incredulously, "I took you home that night and went to go get some aspirin out of your kitchen cabinets; when I went back to find you, I found you asleep in the _sink_."

Yuugi laughed harder, "I just wanted to wash my face, I swear!"

Ryou was still struggling to stop his own laughing when he answered, "And that involved putting your whole body under the faucet _how_?"

"I'm still working on the answer to that," Yuugi answered proudly while Ryou regained his composure, "So, you in, Ryou-baby?"

"Mm," Ryou thought about it, "You know, Bakura wants to kill you every time you call me that, Yuugi; if I didn't like you so much, you'd be dead by now."

"Then I'm glad you do like me that much, eh?" Yuugi responded good-naturedly. "Well?"

"Oh, why the hell not," Ryou answered finally, "I'm in; Bakura's not free till later anyway."

"I'm so glad I take such priority in your life," Yuugi told him sarcastically, "The knowledge just brightens my day and makes my heart sing- _Cyber Tech only charges twelve hundred for the complete rewiring of the arena, Mark; go tell the capt'n my vote's on them- _Sorry, Ryou; we're in the middle of switching companies for the upcoming tournament. Captain Kaiba had another tantrum and fired our last this morning, see."

"Wonderful," Ryou rolled his eyes on his end, "Anyway, I'll let you get back to your work then. How's six for tonight?"

"Perfect," Yuugi told him. "Chao."

Ryou hung up, staring at the phone with a small smile.

* * *

"It still doesn't add up correctly!" Seto exclaimed in frustration, running his hands through his hair. He began another attempt before fatigue washed over him and he slumped over his desk, put out. 

At that moment, Clarisse knocked on his door and walked in with his coffee refill without waiting for a response. "Hello again, si- Oh dear. Problems again?"

Seto turned his face to the side and leaned on his cheek as he spoke to his secretary. "How did we spend five hundred on small repairs, two thousand on the rewiring, and six hundred on additional graphic projectors but come up to a total of thirty-five hundred altogether? We cannot have overpaid that electrical service again; I hired top-of-the-notch accountants this quarter."

Clarisse walked around Seto's desk and choose a pair of glasses with thick, black frames from the four hanging around her neck; putting them on, she pulled the sheet out from under the CEO's head and bent over to look at it.

A moment later, she straightened and pointed with her finger, "Here's the problem! You forgot the four hundred we paid for maintenance, sir-"

"What?" Seto exclaimed again as he jolted upright. He took a breath and pulled the sheet out of Clarisse's hands to look at it himself.

He gave a sudden roar and stood up. "We paid four hundred to that no-good, lying, dump of a company that told us they had everything covered but _still_ couldn't stop the system overload and resulting blackout in the middle of one of the biggest duels of the season? _Never again!_"

Seto became louder and spoke faster as his rant progressed. His secretary took a step back from the negative feelings she could feel pouring off her boss; as she felt herself bump into the desk on which she had placed Seto's coffee, she turned around and quickly snatched the cup back.

"Right. No more coffee for you, sir; you've had enough as it is," she ordered as she walked out of the room and away from a gaping Seto. She called over her shoulder, "I'll be back with some tea!"

"Tea?" Seto furrowed his brow.

Sighing heavily, he sat back down in his chair and drew the phone towards him, picking up the receiver and dialing a number he only used for emergencies.

"Hello, Yuugi?" He spoke on answer.

"Ah, back for more, are you?" Yuugi recognized him with a grin. "How long's it been since you rang me up last, capt'n?"

Seto swallowed a groan, "I'm not your captain; I'm your boss. Must we go over this again?"

"Sure, sure; but you only think you aren't," Yuugi chuckled, "Anyway, what can I do for you on this lovely day?"

"I need something _not _work-related; and fast." Seto didn't waste any time tap-dancing around what he wanted, and Yuugi noted this accordingly.

"You're in luck then, capt'n," Yuugi smiled in success, "I'm having a party today and there are sure to be plenty of not work-related things there. Everyone would love a CEO in their midst-"

"No," Seto cut in, "I'm going incognito or not at all."

"Oh fine, fine," Yuugi pouted, though much of it was lost over the phone, "Meet me after work and I'll make your dreams come true, capt'n."

Seto made a disgusted noise that almost made Yuugi giggle, "I don't know why I put up with you."

"It's 'cause you love me, isn't it?" Yuugi sighed wistfully for Seto's benefit. "You know, I do think I deserve a raise for all the things I've done for you."

"Ask me again when I'm drunk," said Seto and immediately wished he hadn't.

"I'll keep that in mind," Yuugi gave a mental whoop of success, "Well, I shouldn't keep a busy CEO like yourself all tied up, so off you go. I'll be seeing you soon."

They both hung up without another word, one with both hands over his face, wondering what he's agreed to now and the other spinning gleefully around in his chair while his coworkers watched at him strangely.

* * *

The short, piercing, suckling sounds of lips to skin were all that broke the rhythm of the deep, rich, suffocating dark. Before they could travel out and call attention to the activities, the dusk swallowed them and the figure that had swooped down and was draped over another like a shadow continued his feeding uninterrupted. 

In the distance, the last rays of sunlight painted the sky a deep red that twisted into purple and then into the black that was enclosing the city for the night. Against this background, the shadow of a figure finished his meal and straightened, throwing the body he'd been stooped over to the side in contempt; it bounced slightly on the concrete roof and slid to its side, the face of the man almost lost in the blood and skin torn around it.

The figure raised his hands over his head and stretched, bending his back backwards into impossible positions as he worked the kinks out of his spine. As he straightened, the lights of the buildings around him came on; illuminating him eerily.

Pale yellow hair spiked outwards around his head and deep, violet eyes gleamed from the shadows his hair created around his face. As he bent back, his cloak formed around his body, exposing long, thin limbs that seemed almost alien in their perfection. Smiling in satisfaction, he straightened slowly, admiring himself.

He sensed the approach of another of his kind only a second before they swooped down from the fire escape of a neighboring building and surveyed the scene, his body in the shadows.

When the other's eyes found the body of the human lying carelessly some distance away, he started in surprise. Then, he stepped forward and the light washed over his own remarkable features; white, gleaming hair that sharply contrasted with the darkness around them and piercing, deep brown eyes that narrowed when he couldn't see the offender's face.

Bakura snorted derisively, "You fool; not even I would have done that here, of all places, on top of a roof. You'll be dead soon enough."

The other spoke in clipped, formal words, his face still hidden. "I will feed on whomever, whenever I please. As the brother of my blood, you must see it as our right."

With those words, Bakura realized, "You're not from around here, are you?" he crossed his arms and settled back on his heels, exasperated, "Here's a quick guide to getting by in this city: one, you don't kill humans and leave them where they can be found by the human authorities; there's a little thing called DNA identification nowadays that's a bitch when it points in your direction. Two, there may not be a Council in this city, but there is a prince, and he's an even bigger bitch when pissed off. That," Bakura pointed to the body, "will piss him off."

The stranger shifted angrily as he was about to speak, not in the least intimidated by the other vampire's words, but Bakura wasn't finished.

"Third," Bakura continued, his voice suddenly dropping octaves and volume drastically, "I am that prince's enforcer and I only give one warning. This was yours. I would remember it if I were you."

The wind picked up at that moment and swirled around Bakura's hair, moving across his face until only his eyes were visible. In them, the stranger saw a look that was pure malevolence and eagerness at the same time; Bakura's piercing brown gaze said, "I look forward to ripping you apart when you mess up."

Recognizing this power, the stranger came to attention reluctantly. His bow was slow and stiff, as if he was fighting something else he had in mind; Bakura noticed this and smiled indulgently, taunting the stranger.

"I understand," the stranger finally spoke, his words still clipped. Turning on his heel, he walked over to the dead man and picked him up with one hand, holding him away from himself in disgust. Then, he bent his knees and took off into the night.

Bakura watched him until he was out of sight before turning around and starting for the second time that night, a rare occurrence.

"How long have you been standing there?" Bakura demanded, accusingly.

"Aww, Bakura," Yami moved away from the wall he'd been leaning on and towards his subordinate. "I didn't know you were so protective."

"Protective?" Bakura said in horrified disgust. "Dear god, don't tell me I sounded like that."

"Alright, I won't," Yami agreed in good humor; Bakura blanched. "I loved how you described me so well, too."

At that, Bakura grinned, "I try."

"You're going to give me a bad reputation, Bakura," Yami reprimanded him, a lilt in his voice, as he crossed his arms.

Bakura just snorted. "You do that yourself, Yami. I don't need to add anything to that."

Yami stood next to him, turning his head to stare down the path the strange vampire had taken, "Bakura-"

"I know," Bakura interrupted him, his voice quiet and firm, "I'll deal with it."

"After all we've accomplished with the local authorities," Yami's voice matched Bakura's, "we don't need some hotshot newcomer with idealistic views of how we should be screwing us over."

"I know," Bakura said again, his voice devoid of emotion even more, if possible. "He'll be gone by dawn."

"Good," Yami nodded once as Bakura remembered something.

"Do me a favour?" Bakura asked him, grinning, his mood suddenly improving at the prospect of annoying the prince. "Ryou's expecting me at McGyver's tonight, and since I won't be there…" Bakura trailed off, his eyes on Yami.

Yami clicked his tongue in annoyance as he rolled his eyes, "Done. Now get the hell out of here."

"Funny," Bakura shot over his shoulder as he walked to the edge of the roof, "Hell said almost the exact same thing."

* * *

**Notes: **Shorter chapter than normal, but the action's coming up in the following chapters, so they'll be longer, hopefully. Thanks for the reviews, guys; please keep at it. XD 


	6. Don't Let Me Go

_**6: Don't Let Me Go**_

* * *

The party had already been started by the time a bored Yuugi arrived with Seto in tow, the latter complaining left, right, and center. Feigning a yawn, Yuugi pulled open the bar door and ushered Seto in ahead of himself, sharing a look with the bouncer before he followed.

On their way to the bar, they walked past a row of tables against the wall; young, burly men crowded around each table, laughing at jokes and smashing mugs together in salute of one thing or another. Yuugi looked at his young boss out of the corner of his eye and saw Seto walk by them stiffly, an expression of disdain on his face.

"I'll fix that soon," Yuugi smirked to himself.

"Hey Jou," Yuugi greeted the bartender, shouting over the noise of the music. Jou walked over to them, laughing, and Seto quietly snorted to himself as the bartender and Yuugi proceeded to perform a complicated handshake.

"I heard that," Jou said suddenly, looking at the perpetrator. Seto frowned back upon the realization that Jou wasn't short enough to be towered over, but Jou kept right on smiling. "I don't believe we've been introduced. Who might you be?"

"This is Seto," Yuugi cut in, remembering that Seto was supposed to be there in secret. "He doesn't get out very much. He's very hermit-like."

Said hermit choked, but before he could retaliate, Jou laughed again, "Oh yeah? I know just what you need then."

He reached behind him for a tall glass and then bent over to dig out a bottle filled with a suspicious, dark liquid; Seto watched him, apprehensive. Jou filled the bottom of the glass with the liquid and then slid the glass down the counter to the left; it was stopped at the next accumulation of bottles and unscrewing a small bottle of gin and one of vodka, Jou held them together and twisted them round as he poured their contents into the glass; Yuugi whistled appreciatively while Seto swallowed hard, aware that he was supposed to drink this.

"And for the finishing touch," Jou grinned back at them as he reached under the table again and took out a bottle with yet another strange liquid in it, this time green. As he added it to what was already in the glass though, the contents of it quickly turned dark blue and foam appeared at the top.

"With love," Jou presented the drink to Seto and watched, amused, as Seto struggled to hold back an expression of disbelief which changed to horror and then back to disbelief in a very short amount of time.

"You're kidding," Seto finally managed, judging that he'd gotten enough control over himself. "What exactly is in it, besides the gin and vodka?"

"That's a surprise," Jou joked, but then walked away as another customer whistled for him.

Seto turned his questioning gaze on Yuugi, who simply shrugged.

"It's one of Jou's secret recipes," he answered. "Just try it; Jou knows how to please everyone."

"I'm sure he does," Seto muttered darkly, lifting the deep blue glass to the light in hopes of seeing through it, but to no avail. He sighed, "Bottoms up, then."

Yuugi watched in secret knowledge as Seto tentatively brought the drink to his lips and his eyes widened; the next second, he had tilted his head back and downed the contents of the glass in one long swallow. He set the glass back down heavily and belched, his face to the ground.

"Seto?" Yuugi prompted in anticipation.

"W-wha?" Seto turned his hand to look at his party-provider; his pupils had dilated to take up the entire area of his irises, he had a lax grin on his lips, and his balance was giving out on him, as evident by his swaying back and forth on his stool.

"Enjoying yourself?" Yuugi asked, smothering a giggle behind the sleeve of his work shirt, which had been unbuttoned at the top and the cuffs, giving him a sultry look, Seto had reluctantly noted earlier.

"Mm, Yuugi, you migh' have somethin' goin' for ya in this, actually, and…wha was in tha' drink? Ah fuck it, I'll regre' it in the mornin'."

"That's the spirit!" Yuugi laughed out loud that time, patting Seto heartily on the back.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" spoke an amused stranger from behind them.

"Ryou!" Yuugi exclaimed, throwing his arms up to embrace the other. "I was wondering when you'd get here. What, did you get lost?"

"Perhaps," Ryou chuckled. "There are only so many back alleys that are familiar to me. I'm afraid I don't have your affinity for dark and twisted places."

"Why, thank you, darling," Yuugi returned, cheekily not rising to the taunt. "Sit down; have a drink."

"Haven't seen you in a while, Seto," Ryou greeted the figure slumped over the bar counter. "I see you've had one of Jou's specialties; naughty Yuugi didn't tell you the effect it has would have, did he? Shame on him."

Yuugi just smiled gleefully into his beer.

"Damn it, I hope Bakura shows up soon," Ryou told Yuugi, taking a seat next to him. "He promised to take me clubbing tonight."

Yuugi half-moaned, half-cried into his beer as he wrenched his head up from his bottle. "During the week? That's not _fair!_"

"Certainly, it isn't," another stranger agreed in a deep, rumbling chuckle, "but all life isn't fair, now is it? Right, Seto dear?"

"I's nothin' special. Bakur' takes Ryou clubbin' eeevery nigh'," Seto chimed in suddenly with a nod, before smiling senselessly at Jou and slumping over the bar counter again.

"Hi, Marik-who-doesn't-love-me," Yuugi greeted his old friend dejectedly, cupping his chin with one hand and leaning on his elbow.

Marik chuckled again, "Yeah, yeah. You can only milk that so far, love. Get me a drink and maybe I'll find some long-lost feelings for you in this heart of mine."

"Hey Marik," Ryou saluted the doorman with the hand holding his beer bottle.

"Yo," Marik winked back at Ryou as he took Yuugi's seat at the bar, Yuugi coming round to cross his arms and lean on Marik's muscle-bound shoulder.

"Seen Bakura lately?" Ryou nudged Marik's other shoulder, giving him a hopeful look. Marik looked down at him.

"Sorry, love," he sighed with a shrug, "I haven't."

"But I have," yet another stranger of the night uncannily interrupted their conversation for the third time, reaching past Ryou for a bottle off the counter, "and he asked me to stand in for him tonight."

"Good evening, sir Yami," Ryou bowed his upper body in his seat in a show of respect that Yuugi rarely saw from him. Consequently, Yuugi's jaw dropped. And then, he saw who had joined their group.

"You!" Yuugi's voice was only barely below a scream. Thankfully, the music roaring through the bar drowned him out before he attracted any undue attention to them.

"_I?"_ the vampire prompted, straightening his leather trench coat and brushing invisible dust off his shoulder.

"You- you- you-," Yuugi kept cutting himself off before his rant could get underway, though the reason for it was unclear. Before anyone could comment, Yuugi slumped his shoulders in defeat. "You left before I could say goodbye yesterday."

Marik snorted into his rum-vodka mix, startling Seto awake from where he'd been dozing on the counter; everyone looked at the CEO in surprise. Marik finally reached a hand over and patted him reassuringly.

"At ease, love."

Marik's words seemed to do their job as Seto fell over the counter yet again, already unconscious. Marik turned to look at the rest of the group, lowering his voice, "Poor lad; bet he doesn't get enough sleep in his everyday life. We'll just leave him to himself then."

The rest just nodded in agreement, not willing to get involved with the untried drunkard that Seto was; in fact, it was the first time many of them had seen Seto drunk, with the exception of Yuugi, and he wasn't proving to be much help.

"Well?" Yuugi shot at Yami after a moment.

"Pardon?" the vampire replied politely, lacking the familiarity he should have had after the night he had shared with Yuugi. Unfortunately, this infuriated the latter all the more.

"You- you-," Yuugi shot out some more false starts. Suddenly, he found his footing. "You _ingrate_. You _drank my tea-"_

"_-_that I made," Yami interrupted, his expression bored. He wasn't even looking at Yuugi by this time, taking off the long, black leather gloves finger by finger. Yuugi clearly thought himself underestimated, and his anger only grew bigger.

"You whisked me _away _from a forest _on my way home_-" Yuugi continued but Yami interrupted again.

"-you were lost," the vampire spoke calmly.

"You- you pushed me _off _a building- ," Yuugi was breathing heavily.

"-you tripped," Yami pursed his lips before daintily taking a sip of his drink.

"You _let_ me fall- ," Yuugi was desperately searching his memory for wrongdoings now.

"-I saved you in the end," And Yami was wondering why this human was still fighting him; he, the vampire prince- but Yuugi didn't know that, now did he?

"You wouldn't let me go home- " Yuugi stamped his foot.

"-I took you home safely myself," Yami finally looked down at the human and raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"You- I- I- But-" Yuugi finally just stared at him in silence, not noticing the angry pout on his face.

"Has anyone ever told you you're entirely too adorable?" Yami spoke into the pocket of silence that their group had formed, finding the confidence to say what he'd noticed the night before.

Surprised, Yuugi smiled coyly, "Maybe."

"My, my, what an ego you've got," Yami noted with a raise of his eyebrows, both of them forgetting the people around them.

"All the better to dazzle you with," Yuugi replied with a lilt in his voice, finding that he had regained balance to his emotions and even better, his confidence.

Ryou politely cleared his throat then and the moment was broken. But once everyone had been made aware of everyone else, a lull in the conversation settled, and in that pause, Seto jolted awake again, this time more coherent that before.

"Clarisse, I had a stroke of genius! I'll become an electrician and do the electrics in the stadium myself!" he bellowed, a fist in the air. More coherent, Seto was, but also delusional.

Marik snorted into his glass again. "Darlin', are you feeling alright?"

"Never better, Clarisse! I just can't believe I haven't thought of this before!" Seto replied, still under the impression that the downstairs doorman was his longtime secretary. "Think of all the money we'll save if I do the wiring myself! Billions! Absolutely _billions_!"

"We'll have to tell Jou not to make the liquor as strong for you next time, okay, love?" Marik continued talking to Seto as he hoisted the man under his arms and threw him over his shoulder.

"You'll take him home for me, Marik?" Yuugi realized, shining adoration in his eyes. Marik nodded, a lopsided grin on his lips. "I love you, did you know? I'm going to buy you a new motorcycle, okay? A big, shiny, red one!"

Marik chuckled, "You stay away from them 'cycles, you hear? You'll get some pansy tricycle that costs buckets and be complaining for the next ten years. I'll tell you what you can do for me later."

"Aye aye, boss," Yuugi saluted the doorman as he walked out of the bar, Seto hanging over his shoulder and laughing hysterically as he screamed 'Billions! _Billions!_'

The next second, Yuugi gasped, horrified. "He's going to have me 'take care' of someone, isn't he?"

This time, Ryou snorted, "Oh quiet, you melodramatic nut- Sir Yami?"

Ryou reached up to wave a hand in front of the vampire's face; Yami had been staring at the door that Marik had walked out of as if in a trance, an unclear expression on his face. Though with Ryou's encouragement, he snapped out of it with a shake of his head and turned to the pair at the counter.

Yuugi looked back and forth between the two and furrowed his brow, "'Sir'? Since when have you done something to warrant a title, _sir_ Yami?"

"Technically, I'm royalty and not a knight," Yami corrected before he could restrain himself, the title mix-up clearly irritating him. "Then again, a person being randomly addressed as 'your majesty' would draw attention that I don't want or need."

Both Ryou and Yuugi just looked at him, unsure how to proceed.

"Carry on," Yami added with a grin. Yuugi raised an eyebrow.

"And you say I have an ego," he muttered to himself. Yami, with his vampire hearing, heard him perfectly despite the loud music and roar of the bar's other occupants.

"Let's say we're equal then," he replied, referring to the size of their egos as he took Seto's now-empty seat next to Yuugi. Seeing the opportunity, Yuugi deliberately misunderstood.

"Equal, eh? So, I guess I'm royalty too, then," he concluded with satisfaction.

"Touché," Yami conceded with a nod.

"Ah, there's Balteh!" Ryou exclaimed, looking across the bar at one of the tables filled with young men singing obscene songs off-key. Yami and Yuugi turned obligingly to look in that direction, having no idea who they were looking for.

"_Balteh?" _Yuugi wrinkled his nose. "What kind of a name is that?"

"An assumed one," Ryou spoke distractedly. "He's running from the law."

Yuugi's eyes widened and he shared a look with Yami. "Is that safe?"

Ryou snorted, still distracted. "For me. Obviously not for him- Hey, if you guys don't mind, I think I'll go join that nonsense over there." He scraped his chair back before either one could answer.

Yuugi sputtered. "Are you sure?"

Ryou just shrugged, "Like sir Yami said, Bakura's not coming tonight."

Yuugi looked at him, then shrugged back. "I don't mind. Off with you."

"Kisses, darlings," Ryou tosses over his shoulder as he made his way over.

"And then there were two," Yuugi murmured dumbly.

"Amen," Yami agreed, taking another sip of his drink.

Yuugi jerked at that and eyed his current drinking partner. "I do hope you're not religious; I don't take kindly to them zealots."

Yami laughed quietly, "I defy religion."

"You sure?" Yuugi looked at him suspiciously.

The vampire looked over at the other, "Oh yes."

Satisfied, Yuugi drank the rest of his beer bottle and set it down with a slam, stretching his arms over his head, his shirt rising to show his slim stomach and belly button. Yami admired all of this out of the corner of his eye, and out of the corner of his, Yuugi saw this and smiled, victorious.

"Well, your majesty," Yuugi swiveled on his stool in Yami's direction and held his hands out to the vampire, much like a small child would do for its mother. "Take me home."

With another raised eyebrow, Yami's gaze traveled from the hands extended in his direction, up the arms, up the unbuttoned shirt, and met Yuugi's twinkling eyes. "My pleasure."

* * *

**Notes: **Mm, I think I did a nice job tying this chapter in with past chapters, don't you? XD Is it just me or does Marik seems very Jack Sparrow-esque? Sorry 'bout not updating as frequently as I'd like to but it's the winter holidays and there's parties to go to, family and friends to see, the whole shebang. Hope this chapter was as entertaining to read as it was for me to write. Thank you and please keep **_reviewing_**. 


	7. Nocturne

_**7: Nocturne**_

* * *

"Brother of my blood, my ass," Bakura muttered.

After watching Yami flit down the street towards McGyver's, Bakura had followed the other vampire's trail to the city dump, but only by the smell of fresh human blood. The other had left no other trace of his path physically or mentally, and thereby, had pissed Bakura off.

Creeping through the dump, his feet sinking into the raw ground, Bakura searched for the vampire. The large metal cranes and dump trucks scattered throughout made for good objects to conceal behind as he moved, and Bakura was grateful until he realized a moment later that it gave the other vampire an equal advantage.

Ten more minutes passed and Bakura was no closer to locating the out-of-towner. Concealing himself in the dark shadow of what he guessed was a truck; Bakura glared out and pondered his next move.

Of course, there was always the option of putting the whole escapade aside and letting the vampire off the hook, and Bakura was all for that except that doing so would run the risk of the city cops finding out, then the supernatural 'specialists', then a mob forming, people burning at the stake- vampires did not need that again; they'd barely shaken it off last time.

Bakura growled quietly, muttering, "That sly son of a b-"

The tractor behind Bakura suddenly started with a roar, headlights flaring and engine revving, and he jumped back like a startled cat.

"Shit," Bakura bit out as he dove out of the way of the incoming machine. "Well, well. You _are_ one sly son of a b- Fuck!"

The large shovel in front of the tractor had taken a chunk out of foul-smelling dump and swiveling around, throwing it all on Bakura. In his surprise and anger, he froze for a moment and felt the compost oozing down his shirt, sliding down his skin, leaving trails of slime, the smell making him sick-

It was then that Bakura heard loud laughter over the whine of the tractor; the laughter only got louder as the tractor shut off and the door opened, legs spilling out the side and the rest of the body following after. "Forgive me, but I cannot continue with my intentions when you've caused me such great amusement."

Bakura's face fought between dropping his jaw and glaring, resulting in a strange combination of both that looked like he was about to sneeze. The cause of his battle with expression was none other that out-of-town vampire, now devoid of a dead human.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't rip you apart," Bakura bit out, incredulously. "This was an Armani suit."

The other vampire's eyebrows went up, "A bit materialistic, aren't we?"

Bakura paused in imagining how sweet it would feel to peel the other's flesh off for ruining an hour's worth of trying on suit after suit, to shrug, "It's one of the few things left to entertain you after a couple thousand years."

"Couple thou- ", a choked gasp came from the out-of-towner and he abruptly fell into a low bow, obviously agitated. "Forgive me, Your Highness, but I did not know. I would never have insulted you in such a way if I knew your rank."

"Forgetting for the moment that fact that you obviously didn't listen very well when I told you I'm the prince's enforcer and therefore, do not have the title of 'Your Highness'," Bakura blinked as he frowned, surprised, "Two things: one, who the hell are you, and two, what the hell are you doing in this city?"

"I am Malik, Your Grace," the vampire said, still in a bow, "and I came to win new territory, but I now see that this city already has an owner, and an old one at that, so I will bow out of the way and search elsewhere."

"I'm not 'Your Grace' either," Bakura replied in exasperation, his hand coming up to rub his temple. "Just…Bakura. Sir Bakura, if you must, but preferably not, considering it would add more attention to the bucket-loads I already have. On that second note, new territory? Who gave you permission to get it- Why do you even _need _it, first of all?"

"Because I've had to shamefully flee my own, si- Bakura," Malik winced, in part from the admission and in part from what he considered to be a dishonor in wrongfully addressing a superior.

Bakura crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Why…?"

There was a small pause, then, "I was betrayed and overthrown by my advisor," Malik answered bitterly, staring at the ground.

Bakura's arms loosened as he was taken by surprise. "I see."

In a culture, a way of life, that had few morals and ethics outside of straight-forward rules of hierarchy, for a vampire to betray another who had placed trust in him, was a violation of the limited vampiric code they had. Whoever Malik's advisor was, he had given up any tie to the vampiric world with that single action.

And even more infuriating, the advisor must have high confidence that he could hold up under the inevitable attacks he would face from the rest of the vampires as soon as word got out. But, had word gotten out?

"Have you informed The Council about the castoff?" Bakura asked him.

Marik looked up, indignation flashing through his eyes for a moment. "Bakura, I cannot inform a Council about this matter-"

" -Not _a _council," Bakura interrupted. "I said _The_ Council. You knew what I meant."

There was another short pause.

"I did know what you meant," Malik replied quietly, "But you're asking me to approach those with whom few have survived encounters intact, to request their help and risk punishment for bothering them with something to trivial."

"Trivial?" Bakura scoffed. "Malik, first off, you and I both know this is a big vampiric no-no, and that your little vampiric advisor friend signed his own death warrant the moment he betrayed you, and secondly…Well, I don't have a second point, really."

Malik stared at him, blankly. Bakura stared back.

Silence.

Bakura broke first with a loud, exaggerated groan. "Why am I such a sucker for people who need help? I was supposed to kill you tonight" – Malik's eyes widened and Bakura realized his slip – "but you needn't worry about that.

He reached forward to pat Malik's shoulder. "No hard feelings, you understand. I just don't have time to deal with the mess you'd create left to your own devices."

Malik raised an eyebrow, scandalized. "You couldn't even spare a moment to inform myself of how things were done in this city?"

"Well, perhaps," he agreed, nodding. He stopped, mid-nod, and regarded the other vampire out of one glinting eye. "But with your plan to whisk the city away from my prince, I couldn't allow you to live, you see."

Malik straightened, putting his eyes on his hips. "I fail to see how you would have known about that if I hadn't told you."

"Gut instinct," Bakura replied simply, starting to grin. "Though I'd say your plan has now changed, am I right?"

"Yes," he answered. Wanting to see how far he could go, Malik grinned slightly, exposing the tips of his pointy canines. "Shame. This city's quite attractive- the red light district, in fact, is positively delicious."

Bakura smiled sweetly. "Yeah, that instinct I said I have? It thinks you're full of bullshit."

Malik snapped his fingers in mock-defeat, and Bakura chuckled.

"Maybe we can find something for you in this city after all," he mused out loud. "Hey Malik, what d'you say to going to meet the head hotshot here?"

"Eh?" Malik looked at his, confused.

Bakura snorted. "The prince of the city, in other words."

"Why not," Malik sighed, stepping to the side in an informal bow. "Lead the way, Bakura."

Bakura half-growled in frustration. "Look here, Malik. I'm not royalty, despite my good looks. As such, I don't need big displays of respect every five minutes- actually, I don't think the majority of the vampires here like that. Why, were you used to them in your own territory?"

"Not really," Malik replied. "But I was under the impression that other cities follow the code."

"Then, you'll fit right in," Bakura turned, motioning with his hand for Malik to follow. "We don't use titles either- probably one of the few cities who don't. It's just your lucky day you happened to come across us, then."

"Oh, it is," Malik agreed, knowing that he'd have gone crazy from the titles flying about. "It is."

* * *

Yami touched down in front of Yuugi's complex without a sound, Yuugi in his arms. But the human had been expecting a big, shuddering shock resembling the one in which he'd been saved by the vampire from falling to his messy death off the side of the skyscraper, and as such, oomph'd as they landed anyway.

Yami smiled in the darkness, restraining himself from commenting on Yuugi's cuteness again.

'_One time tonight is more than enough_,' he thought, ignoring himself even as he said it.

"Yami?" Yuugi prompted when the vampire didn't move and he was still held in Yami's arms. "You mind helping me down or are you planning to carry me up through the halls and up to my apartment?"

Yami blinked and looked down at him.

"Actually, that doesn't sound half bad," Yuugi realized, warming to the idea of the vampire carrying him up. He pointed excitedly toward the door. "Onward, good sir, and to my chambers!"

Yami raised an eyebrow and ignored him, letting Yuugi down to the ground anyway. "Rain-check, perhaps."

"I need a title," Yuugi declared suddenly, realizing how quickly the night was ending and not wanting it to. "If you have one, then I want one, too."

Yami snorted quietly, sensing the first tendrils of a challenge, "What brought this on?"

Yuugi shrugged, a mischievous grin coming to his lips. "They're sexy."

"Oh?" Yami replied politely. Yuugi mentally pouted at the vampire's self-control, but waited for him to avoid the compliment just like he had the many others that Yuugi had been hinting at all the way home; in his boredom, he's been trying to amuse himself by making the vampire uncomfortable, but to no avail.

Unfortunately for Yuugi, Yami knew what was going on at the moment and smiling, did exactly the opposite of what was expected. "So you think I'm sexy, then?"

Yuugi's jaw dropped slightly before he caught himself. So the vampire wanted to play, did he? Fine.

"And who said I was referring to you personally? I was talking about titles, Yami, not people who have them," Yuugi said, shaking his head slowly and giving off an air of disdain.

"Oh, did I give the impression I was following up your comment with my question?" Yami asked innocently. Yuugi's eyes narrowed. "I beg pardon; I was only trying to find an explanation to all the attention you've been giving me tonight, what with your subtle compliments every few minutes or so."

Yuugi made a sound halfway between a growl and a gasp, giving himself a coughing fit in the process. "So you," he gasped, "you knew what I was saying the whole time?"

He gave one last big, wet cough that bent his spine until he had to hold on to his knees to stay standing. When he finished, he straightened and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of one arm.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to answer people who are talking to you?" he asked, quite calmly.

"Why yes, that she did," the vampire replied good-naturedly. His unfaltering smile was beginning to irritate the other, he noted with delight. "Though, with over three thousand years to my name, I should hope I've remembered that little piece of advice by now."

"Three thousand years, is it?" Yuugi repeated, mock-outraged, while his mind raced to understand the implications. He put his hands on his hips. "I don't know about you, but I think times have changed a tad since then. I personally haven't seen anyone in the streets 'walking like an Egyptian' in the past decade. Well, unless they were completely and utterly drunk."

Yuugi's last sentence was drowned out by Yami's sudden laughter that had him clutching at his sides and struggling for air. Yuugi grinned, pleased with his victory.

"I win," he lilted, watching the vampire struggle to stay upright.

At that moment, the light in one of the windows on the second floor came on and an old woman's raspy, sleep-deprived voice carried down to them, potent with her annoyance.

"Hey you, dumbass!" she called down, effectively silencing the vampire with how she'd addressed him. His silence prompted her further. "Yeah, YOU! Quit your braying and let the elderly sleep!"

Yuugi snickered at Yami's indignant expression, watching him struggle to refrain from shouting back.

"And you, stop SNICKERING!" the old lady shouted again.

Yuugi stopped abruptly and frowned in surprise. "Hey, how did she- "

"I'll REPEAT for the MENTALLY-CHALLENGED," the lady's voice grew louder as she grew more irritated. There was a pause then, in which Yami and Yuugi shared a look and relaxed slightly in the quiet. "_SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_

Yuugi made a face and turned toward the complex door, motioning with one hand to the vampire and thrusting his key into the door, twisting it open. When Yami drew near and obligingly bent over for the shorter human, Yuugi twisted a hand into Yami's leather jacket and used it to raise himself to the vampire's ear.

"One of these days, I'm going to murder her in her sleep," Yuugi whispered huskily, the humor in his words contrasting sharply with the tone of his voice. Yami felt his skin prickle delightfully and moved his hands to support Yuugi as he turned his head to the human's own ear.

"I'll be sure to help," he whispered back, his voice low and vibrating pleasurably into Yuugi's hearing, who bit his lip to keep from moaning. "In fact, shall we do it now?"

The ending lilt on Yami's question sent an additional vibration through Yuugi and he bit his lip again. Hard.

"We should be armed first," he replied, his breath on Yami's skin spreading warmth across the vampire's body. "My place."

"My pleasure," the vampire rumbled. "And it looked like you'll be getting your wish after all."

"Hmm?" Yuugi asked, confused.

"This way will be much faster," Yami told him, lifting the human by his elbows and swinging him up to drape over both arms. Yuugi squeaked in surprise, but remained silent, unaware of the amusement he gave the vampire each time he did that.

Yami jumped up onto the stair railing and looked up, his balance eerily perfect. "What floor again?" he whispered.

"Fifth", Yuugi swallowed and prepared himself for a repeat of the other night's activities, complete with all the jumps and dives at breakneck speeds that Yami liked to do. He swallowed and balled his hands into fists, "I'm ready".

The vampire looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, "For what?" He began helping Yuugi to the ground. "This door is your apartment, isn't it?"

It was then that Yuugi turned and realized that they were indeed already at his apartment. When had he missed the sudden jolt of adrenaline and rush of air against his face that came with Yami's way of traveling?

As if reading Yuugi's mind, Yami snickered quietly as Yuugi continued to look at him in confusion while digging out his keys. "I suppose you're surprised that vampires actually use stairs every once in a while, mm?"

Realizing the reason he hadn't felt Yami jump was because no such thing had happened, Yuugi gave him a glare as he turned towards the door, key in hand. "And here I was expecting some fantastic showing of vampiric powers."

"Do those exist?" Yami responded wryly as the door opened, and he stepped in after Yuugi.

"I don't know," Yuugi replied with an annoyed wave of his hand as he walked away towards his living room. It was quite apparent to Yami that he'd gotten under Yuugi's skin with the sudden change in place without the human noticing, and Yami found that this reaction amused him. Greatly.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Yuugi called from the other room as he sat down on the couch, his voice betraying his mood. Yami felt like snickering again, but forced himself to retain composure.

As the vampire entered as well, he was again reminded of Yuugi's strange taste in decorating. The walls were a strange shade of orange that almost glowed against the black fur covering almost every single piece of furniture in the room.

But what, without question, was the center piece of the fairly large room was the coffee table set between two oversized sofa chairs in the middle. The actual table was made out of an inch-think square plate of glass that had unreadable writing engraved around the edges. But the strangest part was that the four legs that held that glass up were made out of what looked like–

"Are those forks holding up your coffee table?" Yami asked without preamble, his surprise rendering him quite blunt.

Yuugi blinked and looked over at said coffee table, "Yeah. Why?"

The vampire walked over to trail a hand over the three elongated forks that twisted around each other to make each leg. They glinted silver in the scant light there was, giving a shine to the entire design.

Yami couldn't help but admire the effect.

"Wherever did you find this?" he asked, perplexed. Never, in all his years, had he encountered anything even remotely like that table.

"That?" Yuugi replied, bored. "Oh, I made it in some class I took a couple of years back" – the vampire turned to look at him in astonishment – "I made it as a joke, really, to drive the instructor crazy. But I ended up liking it, and took it home with me.

Yami continued to look at him without speaking, so Yuugi shrugged. "It's got something, don't you think?"

"Definitely something," Yami replied – though Yuugi couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic – and straightened. As Yuugi's eyes followed, the vampire began a slow walk around the room, his eyes moving in excruciating detail over every single object.

As he stopped in front of the window, Yami raised a hand to grasp the semi-transparent, black curtain, and moved it back to look out. Yuugi watched with eyes only slightly veiling smugness from his place on the couch. Fortunately, the vampire wasn't looking at him.

"What a view," Yami remarked again, his voice carefully coated in polite admiration.

And it really was quite a view. The expanse and majesty of the city could be seen from the apartment window; the tower-like fantasy buildings of the wealthy jutting out over the parks, the playful, flashing lights, on-off, on-off, of the casinos and clubs. There was no question here: Yuugi had struck gold here.

But what struck Yami the most, and what he couldn't explain away with his infallible and unfailing logic, was the feeling that being here and seeing all this gave him. For the past hour, the vampire had been using more effort than necessary to hold back the true face of his emotions.

It was almost as if he felt at home, surrounded by these strange decorations and furniture; a return to something that poured over him in waves of lethargic pleasure, caressed his face until he felt the echoes of an even older emotion awakening. What was this human doing to him?

Somehow, Yami found himself passing over the question without much thought. What difference did it make at this point? But what was that emotion? It wasn't astonishment, no, it was darker, richer than that. Almost sweet, like…blood. Was it–?

"Yami?" Yuugi prompted, dropping his feet back down from where they'd been propped up on the couch. "Do you want–"

Yuugi was cut off abruptly as the vampire spun around and focused vibrant, red eyes on him. Immediately, Yuugi's mouth closed with a snap and his nose flared as he took a sharp, quick breath.

But the vampire just continued to stare silently at him.

And it was then that Yuugi realized his reaction; one he quickly determined to be way too submissive for his tastes– or reputation. With an effort, he unclenched the trembling fists in his lap and placed each hand on the couch on either side of him. Then he straightened his spine, and did the last thing a person like him should ever do. Yuugi opened his mouth.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed, his voice echoing up into the ceiling. "Use your words, Yami. What, did you get too old to put letters together now? I have to do everything around here…"

Still without reply, the vampire took a slow, predatory step forward towards Yuugi, his eyes never leaving Yuugi's face. But no, as Yuugi realized on closer inspection, it was his neck that the vampire wouldn't, or couldn't, break eye contact with.

Yuugi swallowed, unsure of what was happening, attracted and repelled at the same time. Was he supposed to run? Stay? He didn't know, but increasingly, he was finding he didn't care. With only minimal curiosity, Yuugi found himself slowly sinking into an endless, black void of emotion that he still couldn't determine as either good or bad.

But what did it matter anyway?

Yami had been slowly stalking ever closer; his steps measured, his posture gradually hunching until he was at Yuugi's level, even at a distance away. Yuugi didn't know if it was his imagination, but Yami's hair seemed sharper and longer. Was that a glint of a tooth in the corner of his mouth?

Absent-mindedly and a little ridiculously, he made a note to himself to ask Yami the shampoo he used. And maybe recommend a dentist… Yami wouldn't get offended, would he? It was all in his best interest, really. No one wants a bad smile–

And then Yami was upon him.

Both his arms thrust up to grab Yuugi by the lapels of the jacket he'd been wearing at the bar, lift him up, and throw him further up the couch. Yuugi moaned a little in pain as he landed, his knees rising to protect his stomach.

Before Yuugi could finish the motion, Yami snatched both ankles and pinned them to the couch, his arms a blur across the dark fur. Something rumbled in the vampire's throat, and he gave a half-grin in the darkness, as Yuugi moved his hands over his head into a more comfortable position and moaned faintly again.

The vampire's rumble then became lighter, almost a purr, as he gently released one of his hands from Yuugi's ankle and began to slowly edge it up Yuugi's stomach, taking his shirt up with it. Yuugi's breath quickened, even as his mind rolled in his head, focusing on the only sensations it could.

The vampire shuddered and licked his lips as he eyed the exposed skin, the remaining human parts of his own mind gone. As he shifted his place, his arms moved himself up over Yuugi's taut stomach, between his legs. Yami grew more excited.

Conquer and divide. No, conquer and control.

Submissiveness as sweet as the supple flesh before him, the quivering beat of a young heart. Yami felt a shiver race down his spine as he looked down at the human, eyes closed and an expression of empty bliss displayed on his face. '_Eat me'_. Could he just scream it any louder?

Yami bent his head, his lips already throbbing for the feel of that fat artery, pulsing right above Yuugi's bellybutton. Oh, how he'd been eyeing that bellybutton all night. Such a promise, such a _delight…_

Yami's teeth hovered over soft, pale skin for a moment…and then he struck.

* * *

Sooo...it's been a while, hasn't it? :) Sorry, guys. I've had a lot of things to do this past year. But I've been wondering if this story was ever going to finish itself, or just remain the delicious beginnings of a dream...Glad to know that it's the former. Well, hopefully. Just know that it's thanks to all the hits, the favourites, the story alerts, and especially the reviews, that I'm back to write some more. Thank you for all of those! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter and, even if you didn't, please review!


	8. Just As You

_**8: Just As You**_

* * *

In the receding darkness, in the early, early hours of the morning, an ordinary vampire hid himself in the shadows of the neighboring building's fire escape, and watched an extraordinary human as he slept.

Yami sighed as he brushed the hair out of his face with one hand, moving it back down to grasp the railing he was sitting on. What in the world had he done?

Through the large, balcony windows, Yami could see Yuugi breathing in and out as he lay on the couch– but he could also see the tension in his expression, between his eyes. Yuugi wasn't sleeping quietly, and the vampire knew exactly why.

And inexplicably, the knowledge was making him feel what he hadn't felt for over a thousand years: terrible.

It was given that the vampiric codes didn't forbid relationships with humans, but it was much different to have one that actually mattered to him rather than solely an exchange of blood for protection. But something told Yami that there would be no relationship, not even a hint of one, once Yuugi woke up.

"You really did blow it, didn't you?" Yami told himself, his voice deep and raspy in unfamiliar regret.

As the distant echoes of another vampire's code found him, Yami sighed and gave one last look to the human through the glass.

Then, he stood up, and with one hand on his temple in concentration, the other outstretched, he soared into the sky and vanished from sight.

* * *

Yuugi awoke the next morning.

A moment later, he screamed in relief and fell off the couch. He sat on the thinly-carpeted floor, a million questions running through his head as he tried to make sense of the previous night.

What- what had _happened? _Had Yami seriously…?

"No!" Yuugi exclaimed out loud, eyes wide and hands hovering over his belly, much like the pregnant ladies he liked to make fun of. "He wouldn't dare– he wouldn't!"

Reluctantly, he lowered one hand to clutch at the fur-covered couch while the other began to lift his shirt painfully slow. Gradually, he uncovered his black boxers, the elastic holding them up to his thin waist, the shiny smooth skin of his stomach.

Yuugi had actually begun to relax– but then he reached his belly button, and hissed between his teeth. There it was. Two round, angry red teeth marks that seemed to curve around his taut belly in the condescending smile that was so often on Yami's face.

It was then that Yuugi noticed a throbbing sensation low in his stomach, and as he brushed his hand against his body, he noticed two things: one, that his stomach was incredibly tender, and two, that he was, for no apparent reason, embarrassingly hard.

There was no denying what had happened; Yuugi couldn't even try when the evidence was practically slapping him in the face.

"What in the flying _fuck?_" he exclaimed incredulously into the emptiness of his living room. As Yuugi searched his mind for absolutely any answers, he found that one thing was winning the prize for 'most irritating'.

It was the fact that the previous night had happened without any hint, any clue, any warning. And even more, Yuugi had just tamely allowed the vampire to have his way with him, and then slip away into the night that was supposed to be on his side.

Fine. Yami wanted to play? Yuugi decided right then and there that in the exact opposite, he was going to see Yami and give him a piece of his mind. A very large piece.

With a loud, echoing thump every time foot touched floor, Yuugi stomped across his apartment into the kitchen, his pants uncomfortably tight, and snatched the phone off its hook.

"No one treats me like that," he muttered angrily as he punched the number of his work, adding the secret extension code that connected him straight to the phone in Seto's office. As the phone rung, he glanced over at the clock and growled angrily; it was 11'o'clock and he had missed almost four hours of work today.

That did it. He had now used up all his sick hours for the month, and unwilling as he was to admit it, he needed those hours to avoid coming to work with a hangover and a snappish attitude. Especially not when he needed his flirty personality to have everyone else do the work he couldn't do– something that happened much too often, but hey, who was counting?

It was like a domino effect, Yuugi realized with a growing bad mood, one thing after another kicking him in the ass. When did it _end?_ As the phone continued to ring unanswered, he began to jiggle his foot with impatience, blood pressure dangerously rising.

Finally, five rings later, a harried Seto finally answered. "You have ten seconds. What?"

"I'M NOT COMING IN TO WORK TODAY!" he suddenly exploded, immediately feeling a little bit better. Then, for good measure, "ASSHOLE!"

Yuugi slammed the phone back on the hook, too pleased to think about his misguided anger. Or the fact that Seto might not exactly know who'd called him.

As he stomped over to the fridge and pulled out a half-eaten sandwich from the previous day, Yuugi began muttering to himself again.

"I love this", he bit out incredulously. "I absolutely love this. Two nights with a vampire and you throw all caution to the wind.

" 'Oh, he's a vampire _prince_– he's special; he won't do anything to me!'" Yuugi lunged at his sandwich again and took another large bite, muttering to himself as he chewed. "My my, you are gullible, aren't you?"

Shoving the remaining half of the sandwich into his mouth, Yuugi brushed his hands on his pants and stalked down the hall into his bathroom, unbuttoning his clothing as he went.

"And what the fuck?" Yuugi asked himself as he turned on the faucets and began brushing his teeth. With toothbrush still in mouth, he continued, "You invite him over, half-lie on the couch in a half-your-way-with-me way, and when he turns to you – obviously finding his appetite for the night – you give yourself to him. No questions asked!"

He spat into the sink, dragged a dark red hand towel roughly across his mouth, and whirled around to shove the shower curtain to the side and start the shower. "Yeah, it's true you never really cared about virginity, but there's still a first time for everything."

Yuugi slid his pants down to the ground, taking his boxers with them, and slipped off his shirt, careful not to touch his stomach. "And while this wasn't the first time he'd fed from you, it sure as hell was the first voluntary time! Are you on _crack?_"

As he stood naked and watched steam rise from the shower, his eyes drifted down to his nether region and he gave an exasperated sigh. "And now, your cock is standing proudly at attention, and you have no fucking idea why."

"I love it," he declared, climbing into the shower and facing the oncoming jets of the shower head. "I hate him and he still makes me the hardest I've ever been in my life."

* * *

"Would you like to explain to me, Bakura, how 'kill him' could be interpreted as 'bring him home for tea'?" Yami demanded, exasperated. This night just wouldn't end.

"Well, excuse me for having a heart", Bakura replied sarcastically, and glanced behind him to make sure Malik was still worriedly pacing the rooftop and hadn't disappeared.

Yami lifted an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's your heart and not the one belonging to your Ryou? He does like to let you borrow it so often these days."

"Funny", Bakura responded, not rising to the almost-slight against his boyfriend. He sighed. "Look, there's a reason I spared him. Seems his dear advisor overthrew him and forced him out of his city."

Bakura waited for a response, but to no avail. Yami continued to look at him with a blank expression, arms crossed in front of him and one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Anyone?" Bakura prompted, but Yami still showed no inclination of responding. "For five-hundred, what is treason? Breach of vampiric code? Involvement of The Cou–"

"I know what it involves," Yami interrupted, his voice calm but something in it still warning Bakura to watch himself. "I should be more knowledgeable than most on dealing with The Council, if you'd so care to remember."

Bakura barely managed to cover the shiver down his back at just the memory.

The Council's invasion of their city, the scarring interrogation of every inhabiting vampire, the mental, physical, and emotional torture the vampiric prince had to go through to be deemed satisfactory as leader, and the final, cold analysis that they were all just fucking _acceptable_.

Not surprisingly, these weren't Bakura's favourite memories.

"But I still see no reason to involve myself in someone else's affairs," Yami continued after a moment, "especially when that same individual originally endangered my city."

Something clicked, and Bakura focused his gaze on Yami's, one pair of black, slitted pupils to another. "This is seriously what this is about? You want a freaking apology?"

When Yami didn't respond, Bakura swore and leapt up into the air to land next to a surprised Malik, Bakura's precision making him scant millimeters from the other vampire. Before Malik could even open his mouth, Bakura grabbed him by his shirt collar, and jumped back in front of Yami, faster than the eye could follow.

The only sign that Bakura had even moved from his previous position was the wind ruffling Yami's hair and the addition of another vampire, whose own silver hair was tangled around his face from the jump.

There were no other indications. Yami still stood tall, commanding attention, allegiance, fidelity. Bakura faced him, exuding his own kind of dark and dangerous power, only muted by his desire for the prince to listen to him.

From between the thick strands shading his eyes, Malik gave Bakura a dirty look which Yami caught and surprisingly, found some amusement in. His lips curved ever-so-slightly on one side, but he was spared the effort of hiding it by Bakura turning to the other vampire.

"Malik," Bakura began, and then stopped, finally noticing Malik's appearance. "Oh. Sorry 'bout that."

With a heavy hand, he tried to quickly brush Malik off, not seeming to realize that each stroke almost brought the other vampire to his knees and did absolutely nothing to improve his appearance.

"I'm fine!" About to collapse, Malik finally took a step away from Bakura just as his hand was about to come down again.

Sighing in relief, and forgetting where he was for a moment, Malik called up his vampiric powers to spin around in an indiscernible blur– and then to stop, pristine and neat, no indication any events of the night had ever happened.

And then, Malik froze, realizing his mistake. There was silence among all three of them, and a very long minute passed, then–

Yami turned towards the new vampire, eyes glowing eerily in the dark, and uncrossed his arms.

"As Da'kana, you are aware of the code among us," Yami spoke as Malik began backing away. "As Da'kana, you have that code engraved into every action you do and in how you live."

Yami took a step forward, and seemed to suddenly grow in size and power, while Malik diminished. "And as Da'kana, you should know perfectly well that one of the first rules is that you are forbidden to call up your power while a superior is present who hasn't given you such permission."

"I– " Malik tried to explain, knowing his attempts were futile even as he spoke. Yami drove over his words with relentless force.

"Malik Ishtar," Yami spoke, the vampire's full name coming to his lips from some far away place and time, the knowledge alive within him, apart from him. "_You have broken the code."_

"No…" Malik whispered, protesting what he already knew in his soul was undeniable.

"_And so the code shall break you_," Yami continued, his voice no longer his own, but that of the primordial sleeping power that awakens to form and reform the bonds between their kind.

The ground seemed to drop away from Malik's feet, and his limbs dropped to his sides, too heavy to lift. He hovered over an eternal void of mind-numbing servitude, watching himself tip gradually and unforgivingly forward.

"_In service, in devotion, in blinding trust_," Yami recited, the long-lost lines of the ancient vampiric agreement, the one which had created the first of their kind. "_You are bound to me as your hope, your salvation, your prince. Past, present, future, you wear the shackles of eternity."_

And then, it was over.

The spark of individuality Bakura had just met disappeared from Malik's gaze, and his struggling ceased. Without a word, the foreign vampire glided across the rooftop and folded himself into a bow in front of Yami, his spine bending to an inhumane degree. He remained in that position, unmoving, soulless, trapped.

"It is done," Yami concluded softly as the last traces of power echoed through his body.

He turned to go, eyes shut and hair waving slightly in the wind. As he bent his knees in preparation to leap off the roof, wondering how much further he could possibly dirty his hands in one night, Bakura finally sputtered to life.

"Just like that?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in a very unusual show of emotion. Briefly, Yami wondered if his enforcer was going soft, but just as quickly, discarded the idea. He didn't have the time to find a replacement anyway.

"You planned this all along," Bakura accused him, his voice dangerously soft, crouching, waiting.

"It had to be done," Yami replied, without energy to even lie. He was tired, so tired, of everything. He turned away again, ready to finally escape the rising sun and sleep. A sleep that never ended had never seemed so good.

Yami glanced at the sky behind him, and saw faint traces of purple, pink, red light coloring it. And vast as his power was and whatever else cowered whenever he was near, Yami had to face the truth that he could not conquer the sun.

"You cold-hearted bastard," Bakura burst out, incredulous and apparently unaware that the night was swiftly slipping away, as was their time. "Where the hell is the Yami I know? What the fuck has happened to you?"

"Do not," Yami's temper finally snapped, and he flashed his fangs in Bakura's direction, "address me so informally."

Whirling on his heel, Yami shot off the ground before Bakura could react, Malik coming to life a moment later and following wordlessly in his path.

Bakura watched the two figures go, unable to formulate either a satisfactory response or an action. What else could he do?

So he just stood there, and watched. He watched them until they were just shadows against the background of the city buildings. And he was still watching, when finally, they disappeared completely.

"What," Bakura slowly shook his head, the disbelieving expression never leaving his face, "What the _hell_ did I miss?"

* * *

Hi guys! Thanks to each and every one of you who gave this story a chance and either started or continued reading. Your reviews helped me a ton with breaking my writer's block. Please keep reviewing and asking those questions, so I can provide the answers! :) And on a random note, go listen to some Spanish reggaeton music, because that stuff is incredibly seductive. And addicting. :D


	9. Push My Buttons

_**9: Push My Buttons

* * *

**_­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

"You have to tell me," Yuugi demanded stubbornly, knowing that if he plowed through Ryou's defenses enough, he'd give in. Besides, Yuugi already knew Ryou was feeling guilty for having accepted Yuugi's offer of treating them both to the nearby outdoor café.

"Why?" Ryou exclaimed, flinging a hand out to waggle his finger in Yuugi's face and almost overturning his coffee in the process.

Ryou dropped his attention to the cup teetering in circles around his saucer. During his efforts to stop it, Yuugi crossed his arms and legs, and began shaking his foot against Ryou's pant leg, knowing it would annoy him.

"Stop that," Ryou muttered, distracted, while Yuugi feigned deafness and increased his leg-jiggling. A moment later, just as Ryou had steadied the coffee cup, Yuugi's leg bumped the table and reduced the cup to its previous motions while Ryou growled. "If it spills, you're buying me another."

"Well, fuck me," Yuugi responded as he lifted an eyebrow. "Someone's touchy about their caffeine."

"You'd be too if you'd had my night," Ryou murmured, gently pushing the cup back into the center and looking up to see Yuugi grinning insanely at him. Instantly, Ryou regretted saying anything.

"Night, eh?" Yuugi asked innocently, forcing himself to smile more politely. "Was it spent with your…boyfriend, perhaps?"

"Yeah, why?" Thrown for a moment, Ryou responded truthfully.

When Yuugi just nodded at him to continue, Ryou shrugged and decided he had nothing to lose. "Bakura came home very angry, and very horny. While it was quite a pleasurable night, I didn't get to sleep until about a half hour before you called."

"Oh, I see," Yuugi just snickered at him. "Ryou likes it rough, does he?"

"Oh, quiet you," the other responded and stuck his tongue out.

A moment later, suddenly inspired, Ryou grabbed his coffee, downed it, and slammed it back on the saucer with a deep, dark laugh. "But pain can be quite sweet in the right circumstances, sweet Yuugi. It can even be downright delicious, my dear. Let me show you…"

Ryou slowly reached across their small table with one clawed hand for Yuugi's throat, a demented smile of lust and hunger on his lips. Yuugi froze, bug-eyed, and watched the hand, the panicked expression on his face becoming more pronounced as Ryou drew nearer.

Just as Ryou's fingertips brushed Yuugi's neck, Yuugi's self-control snapped.

Yelling bloody murder, Yuugi shoved himself away from their tiny coffee table, eyes shut tight and arms flailing. In his alarm, he failed to realize the strength with which he had pushed off, and as his chair legs caught on a crack in the ground, Yuugi's chair wheeled backward and hit the ground with a crash, back disconnecting from seat, legs snapping off like toothpicks.

Winded, Yuugi's head touched sidewalk a moment later in defeat.

A minute or two passed before Yuugi found his breath and sanity again, and groaned.

As he sat up and his hearing came back, Yuugi looked around to find Ryou still sitting on his chair. He was drenched from head to toe in the coffee that had been sitting on their now overturned table, and laughing so hard that there were tears in his eyes. On Ryou's right, the café owner was pointlessly yelling in some foreign language and wildly gesturing, while the other three inhabitants of the café looked on in curiosity.

Yuugi rubbed his head and blew hair out of his eyes, knowing he'd been outplayed this time. "Goddamnit, Ryou."

Managing to stand up, despite the ground tilting beneath his feet, Yuugi walked over to Ryou, who was now slowly sliding down his chair in unbroken laughter. "I hate you," Yuugi stated, his hands on his hips.

Ryou just hiccupped and laughed even harder, seeing the state Yuugi was in, which spoke for itself. Yuugi's hair looked like it had been turned inside out, his previously straight spikes now bent at awkward angles in all directions; the pout on his face was at odds with the dirt on his chin and the bluish bruise already forming on his cheek; the neck of his already-oversized, gray shirt had stretched so much that it had slid down one of his shoulders and exposed his dirt-smudged skin there as well.

"You," Ryou tried to control his laughter to respond, just barely able to lower it to a giggle. "Ahaha, you look like you're ten!"

"What?" Yuugi responded blankly, still glaring at the other and trying to ignore the owner yelling at his back.

"You know, ahaha," Ryou giggled loudly again, hitching himself up on the chair again and watching coffee drip off his nose. "When we were ten and I put a hose down your pants, and told you it was a snake– Ahahaha, and then you broke a window, ahaha–"

"Yeah, I double hate you," Yuugi slitted his eyes, his pout becoming more pronouncing and making Ryou giggle louder. Yuugi turned to finally yell back at the owner, who still seemed to be shouting gibberish, and saw that he was had backed away and was now waving a phone in his hand, dialing a number.

"Okay, time to go," Yuugi remarked, grabbing the still amused Ryou by the back of his leather jacket's collar and pulling him up. "I got no time for coppers. You?"

"Nope," Ryou responded gleefully, and followed Yuugi, snickering every time his leather, coffee-soaked shoes squeaked.

"I'm not talking to you for the next week," Yuugi muttered, feeling the rare embarrassment that only Ryou could induce in him. Well, maybe it wasn't embarrassment, just his head hurting, Yuugi thought hopefully.

"Okay, okay," Ryou conceded, finding it hard to appear humble when there was a shit-eating grin on his face. But when Yuugi didn't stop walking, Ryou caught up to him, hiccupped, and grabbed Yuugi's shirt, pulling him back and stretching it out even more. "Okay! I'll tell you what you want!"

Yuugi obligingly stopped short.

So short, in fact, that Ryou hadn't been expecting it, and slammed straight into Yuugi's back, knocking both of them over; a mass of limbs, thumps, and groans.

"Oops," Ryou offered, still unmistakably in a good mood, while trying to disengage his arm from cupping Yuugi's knee as it curved around his own ass. Yuugi meanwhile pondered how to remove his teeth from the bottom of Ryou's shoe, which was, unfortunately, not the most delicious of places.

Finally realizing that they weren't going to untangle themselves without outside help – and not receiving any from the slightly disturbed passer-bys, to their chagrin – the two of them decided to remain how they were, an island in the middle of the relatively few people passing them on the sidewalk.

Yuugi mumbled something into the shoe, and Ryou giggled, "Stop that, it tickles!"

Growling, Yuugi spat shoe out of his mouth in a superhuman effort, and cranked his neck back to see Ryou's face, exasperated beyond belief and vowing to give Ryou a whipping just as soon as a certain vampire received his.

"You. _Talk."_

* * *

"It's not that fun, is it?" Yami asked him softly, one of his hands reaching out to rest on Malik's shoulder. "To feel alive, to know you are…but to not be able to show any indication, not even close."

"I've been where you are, you know," Yami waited for a sign that Malik had heard, though he knew it was useless. "The Council had determined that I needed to be able to overcome myself to be…at my position, so they forced me to break the code as well."

The other vampire continued to watch him with blank eyes, silently waiting for Yami to command him; anything, everything.

"You broke the code, so the code breaks you," Yami shut his eyes, blocking the situation out for a moment to think, while his hand began stroking Malik's shoulder, whether in comfort for himself or for Malik, he didn't know.

"You couldn't follow its rules, so now you must follow mine, follow me," eyes still closed, Yami mused out loud, "Exciting prospect, isn't it?"

The two vampires were alone, the only sign of the outside being the distant hum of the evening subway as it passed overhead. It wasn't Yami's usual resting place, but the previous night's events had left him little choice but to find the nearest city haven, old places he kept habitable only for the sake of travelers.

And of course, Malik had followed him without question. Despite the many times Yami had tried to lose him, thinking it might break the bond, Malik had caught up in only minutes, sometimes even appearing ahead of Yami as if reading his mind.

"And of course, the question is," the vampire prince sighed, feeling so dirty and so tired, even after his habitual unconsciousness, his sleep, during the day, "how did I manage to escape the same sentence I was forced to lay on you?"

"I don't know," Yami sighed again, almost growling in frustration, "I can't remember anything of then."

The prince had awoken earlier, thinking with joy that the night had all only been his imagination, only to roll over and see Malik standing attentively at the other end of the room, already awake.

"You must understand," Yami continued, forcing himself to look past the soulless eyes he was staring into and realize he was still talking to Malik. "This did not happen voluntarily, nor was it carried out with my will. As much of an excuse as it sounds, it was my vampire nature that acted, not me."

Yami pressed his lips together, feeling an unspoken reproach. "Yes, I desired your mistakes to bring you enough trouble that you'd be obedient to me, Malik, but I did not imagine it was possible for one individual to commit such a gross wrong."

"Especially in the space of five minutes," Yami added with a half-smile, looking to the side for a moment in thought. Malik continued to watch him with no outward reaction to what the other vampire was saying. Yami looked up again, eyes full of emotion as he stroked Malik's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I want only to be fair to you. I'd offer you a seat, if nothing else"

Abruptly, Malik sat down on the barren floor on his knees, the space above empty where Yami had been petting his shoulder.

"Excuse me?" Yami stumbled, surprised. But nothing more happened; Malik continued to sit on the ground, his face turned upward to wait until the next order. Yami just raised both eyebrows at him, unaware of how else to react to the situation.

"Well," the vampire prince started awkwardly, unused to speaking to himself – or the equivalent of if, seeing as Malik couldn't very well respond, "New night falls. Shall we return home?"

Silence.

"Well, my home," Yami corrected, and then adding, "Though, I suppose you can't really answer apart from agreeing with me."

Unwilling to command the other vampire any more than absolutely necessary, Yami turned his back to Malik and walked out of the room, marveling once again at how disgusted he was with the situation. He did not need slaves, especially not when he himself had served as and understood the pains of one to that damn Council. Was this some kind of sick joke?

Behind him, Yami heard a shuffle as Malik exited the room as well and strode mechanically after him. How he'd rather be followed by a certain, little, loud-mouthed–

The door creaked loudly as Yami turned the rusted iron handle and pushed outward. Beyond it was a metal pathway over the large pipes rushing hot water to all the homes across the city, and Yami stepped gingerly forward, his feet making no sound, as Malik followed.

A couple of minutes later, they reached the maintenance door that led to the streets, and Yami shoved it open with one foot. He slowly lowered it to the ground, and took the step forward, a god rising out of the mist, inexplicably cheered by the sounds of the city at night.

"You know what, Malik? I think I need a drink" Yami called back, hearing the door clang shut behind him. Yami turned and wrapped one arm around Malik's shoulders, a growing grin on his lips. "What's that, Malik? You too? Well then, McGyver's it is!"

* * *

"I don't believe you" Bakura tried really hard not to shake his head, and settled on drumming his fingers instead. "How the hell do you know where Yami went, and I don't?"

Ryou stared at the vampire, lips as thin as a line and face ghostly white. "But you told Yuugi I did!"

"Well, I was obviously lying now, wasn't I?" Bakura asked slowly.

Ryou had debated all afternoon whether he should tell Bakura or not that Yuugi had been over. He's paced across the living room until he'd worn a groove in the carpet, tugged his hair in frustration until it came away in a couple of frightening clumps, and drove himself into such a frenzy that he was, for some reason, making pancakes before he knew what he was doing.

Ryou had been in the process of scraping the ceiling with a rake he'd found in the closet to remove the batter globs he'd somehow flung up there – when he'd heard Bakura's steps up the stairs.

But by then, Ryou had already realized that he was fucked either way, and let the rake drop in defeat – where it landed on his head. From one ludicrous situation to another, Bakura walked into the apartment to find Ryou sitting on the ground, a rake tangled in his hair, and a half-sullen, half-pained expression on his face.

"But that would be incredibly dimwitted, Ryou," Bakura protested fifteen minutes later, unable to get his mind around it all, "because that would mean that you did a very, very stupid thing. And because he now knows where Yami is, which again is something _I am still unaware of_, Yuugi's going to– "

It clicked. "He's going to-"

Ryou nodded, now looking like he was about to cry.

"But then, he's going to- ?"

Ryou nodded harder, preparing to die.

"DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME, RYOU DEAR, THAT YOU TOLD YUUGI THE WHEREABOUTS OF YAMI _**FOR THAT EXACT PURPOSE?**_**"**

Unable to take it any longer, Ryou swiveled on his heel, and ran out of the room, something like _"I'm sooorrryyy" _drifting back after.

Bakura stared after him, not knowing whether to laugh incredulously or follow his boyfriend and bully more information out of him. Yes, the vampire had known since earlier that day that Yuugi was upset, considering his normally annoyingly-happy mood had been replaced with "rabid dog, frothy" when he'd visited about Yami, but he certainly hadn't expected for Yuugi to become so worked up over it.

Fuck. Bakura shook his head slowly. Trust goddamn Ryou to figure out what the worst thing to tell a vengeful Yuugi was, and then _tell him_ _anyway_.

* * *

"Yuugi," Bakura had called into the apartment, kicking the nail-ridden door behind him closed and slipping Ryou's key back into his pocket. "It's Bakura."

There was an answering growl from the kitchen, and Bakura made his way in that direction, cautiously stepping around the clothes that littered the hallway. He couldn't help the grin that slid onto his face as he passed through the kitchen doorway, and walked over to the table. "Rearranging closets, eh?"

Yuugi shot him a look, and then shifted his gaze back down to continue angrily stirring the mug before him. "What?" He prompted, irritable. "Can't you see I'm busy making a culinary masterpiece?"

"Eh…" Bakura sniffed, suspiciously eying whatever was sloshing around inside the cup. "What do you call that orange stuff?"

"It's fucking _tea_," Yuugi bit out. "So what if I used the food coloring instead of lemon juice by mistake?"

"Yeah," Bakura scratched his ear, forehead furrowing. "But why is it orange?"

"Because I'm in a goddamn orange mood, that's why!" Yuugi lifted his spoon out of the mug, but in his excitement, it slipped out of his fingers and flew across the table to smack Bakura on the forehead.

Caught off-guard, Bakura froze as the tea still on the spoon splattered across his face and the spoon ricocheted to the ground with a clang. One hand coming up to rub his face, Bakura sputtered, "What the fuck?"

"You deserved it," Yuugi concluded, raising his nose in the air and lifting his mug for a sip. "You shouldn't be coming 'round to just piss me off anyway."

"Oh, I'll _give_ you a reason to come around," Bakura muttered threateningly, gnashing his teeth to Yuugi's answering one-fingered salute.

"That doesn't make sense, dumbass," Yuugi shot back.

"You know what doesn't make sense?" Bakura asked, still extremely irritated. "That after only _one_ night, you managed to drive Yami fucking batshit crazy! How the fuck does that happe- ?"

Bakura was cut off by a suddenly agitated Yuugi pushing the table forward, shooting up from his seat and angrily pointed at Bakura, "Oh, don't you start! Tell that pretentious prick that I'm not his fucking blood bank!"

"Fucking tell him yourself!" Bakura shouted back. "I'm not going to be your bitch as well!"

"I don't know where he is, _jackass_!" Yuugi yelled, pounding the table with his fists for emphasis on each word.

"_Then fucking ask Ryou!"_ Bakura replied, completely incensed. All he'd wanted was someone to explain to him what he didn't understand, and now this.

A sly, evil smile spread across Yuugi's mouth. "Fine."

And with that, Yuugi slipped his keys into his pants pocket, grabbed his jacket from where it had been hanging from a framed photo in the hallway, and walked out of his apartment.

Alone, Bakura still stood in Yuugi's kitchen, eyed squeezed shut and palms pressed against either side of his head as if holding himself together.

"Is it so much to ask," he asked the sudden stillness, one closed eye twitching sporadically. "Is it so much to ask for someone _to fucking explain to me what's going on?"_

* * *

Hiiii guys. :D Long time, no update, eh? Yeah…I'm in the process of determining my new home for the next four years, so bear with me if it's been taking me some time to update, 'kay? As always, hope you've enjoyed my writing (rusty as I am at it) and please review to tell me what you liked, didn't like, etc. :]

Note: these sections are not in chronological order in the end. If you're confused, it's probably because the order wasn't what it usually is. :D Sorry! Enjoy figuring out what came after what!


	10. Contact the Living

_**10: Contact the Living**_

* * *

"Are you mad at me?" Ryou asked tentatively, his voice echoing slightly across the room.

"No," was the short response. Bakura was leaning against the kitchen wall, head tilted back and eyes closed. Ryou sat across the room, the kitchen table between him and his suspiciously calm boyfriend.

Ryou narrowed his eyes in doubt. "I don't believe you."

"That's not my problem." Bakura responded, cutting off the argument before it could even start. The vampire shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but didn't move from his place against the wall, apparently deep in thought.

Ryou snapped his mouth shut – half in disappointment, half in indignation – though not before muttering, "You wouldn't be acting so weird otherwise."

But Bakura, with his vampire-enhanced hearing, naturally caught his boyfriend's comment and sighed, allowing a small curve to appear on the left side of his mouth. "It's nothing to do with you, dummy. I'm just trying to sort out what the hell's been going on in the past two days that's left the city turned upside-down."

Ryou wrinkled his brow in confusion, not having noticed any remarkable change in the daily scheme of things. And Bakura, seeing that adorable face in his mind's eye, couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "I meant with regards to the overheated tea kettle and the moping willow lost."

Still entirely puzzled, Ryou tried to imperceptibly turn his head to look at the stove and then the balcony plants, finding that both were empty of absolutely any kettles and willows. He'd been in the process of forming a question when Bakura opened one eye and noticing what Ryou was looking at, gave a loud guffaw. "Goddamnit, I love you, Ryou."

Ryou pouted at him. "But I don't see–"

"Oh, you precious thing," Bakura interrupted, and began laughing louder. "I'm talking about Yuugi and Yami!"

Ryou pursed his lips, and turned his face in the direction of the kitchen sink to his left. "Oh."

Still absolutely enchanted and entertained with his boyfriend's reaction, Bakura pushed off the wall and walked around the table to Ryou, who was finally forced to look at the vampire.

"You," Bakura whispered, leaning over Ryou's chair with each arm resting on an armrest, "I'll never get over, my sweet."

"Yeah?" Ryou whispered back, challengingly. "Prove it."

Something flashed in the vampire's eyes, sending a long shiver down Ryou's back. Suddenly, Bakura lunged forward and caught Ryou's lips in a harsh kiss that thrust him back in his chair, pinning him to his seat. One hand came up from its place on the armrest and entangled itself in Ryou's hair, nails suddenly longer and making shivering caresses down Ryou's cheek.

A slight moan escaped from Ryou and the vampire grinned into the kiss, knowing all control was his. Bakura lifted one leg up and shoved Ryou's thigh aside, pushing his own knee forward until it stopped, wedged between his boyfriend's legs and thrusting against the growing bulge in Ryou's increasingly too-small pants. Ryou sighed and winced at the same time, pleasure and pain melding together all too quickly.

The vampire growled expectantly into Ryou's mouth, using one hand to pull Ryou's hair and tilt his head up. _Who did Ryou belong to?_

"Yours," Ryou managed in between gasps. "Fucking _yours_."

And with that, Bakura let go.

The vampire released Ryou's head and removed his leg, taking a step back and straightening to see a thoroughly ravished Ryou sprawled across the hard, wooden kitchen chair. Ryou whined from the loss, eyes blinking up to his boyfriend in need.

"If you want the rest" – at these words, Ryou nodded his head excitedly – "you're going to straighten a few things out for me, yes Ryou?"

Said person opened his mouth to respond verbally, but Bakura immediately held up a finger. "No talking unless I tell you to. Clear?"

Ryou nodded again, his eyes drifting downward. He looked longingly at the bulge in Bakura's own pants, remembering how hard the cock throbbed every time he touched it…

"Ryou – focus!" The vampire snapped his fingers in front of his boyfriend's face, and frowned emphatically. "Answer precisely and accurately, or I'll have to..." – Ryou looked at him eagerly – "…punish you."

A shiver went down Ryou's spine, and he opened his legs wider, sliding further down the chair. He whined again, wanting to be done as soon as possible with these stupid questions.

"Now," Bakura began, grabbing another chair and turning it around so that the back was in front, before sitting down in front of Ryou, "Let me get this straight. You met Yuugi for tea this morning, correct?"

Ryou nodded in confirmation.

"And he seemed upset?" – Ryou nodded, rolling his eyes, which immediately struck Bakura's interest – "Oh?"

Ryou pointed to his own throat in question, and the vampire waved a hand in acquiescence. "Speak."

"It was something about Yuugi expecting sex, and getting it but not getting it," Ryou shrugged. "He's apparently discovered he likes something that's not appropriate" – at Bakura's questioning expression, Ryou pointed to his neck in answer – "and wants to teach Yami a lesson. But _personally_, I think it's about ti- "

"_Quiet._" Bakura boomed, silencing his boyfriend and regaining control. The kitchen was in suspenseful silence for a moment, in which Ryou couldn't stop fidgeting. "Then I suppose you told him where Yami was?"

Ryou shook his head, shrugging his shoulders to indicate he hadn't known where Yami was.

"So how did you manage to escape Yuugi's current one-topic mind?" Bakura continued, lowering his voice to regain Ryou's attention. The human's eyes had been wandering around the kitchen, searching for something that could help him relieve his need. Oh, how he just wanted– "_Ryou_."

"I…told him you'd forbidden me from saying anything. He wouldn't have left me alone otherwise!" Ryou hid his face behind his hands, preparing himself. But receiving no punishment, he peeked out at the vampire from between his fingers and continued. "I did tell him though, that perhaps Yami had gone to a club, so maybe Yuugi could find him there."

"Well! That explains the clothes everywhere alright. Poor Yuugi searching for an outfit he didn't have," Bakura snickered to himself, finding Yuugi's situation extremely funny. "No wonder the shithead was so pissed off when he saw me, too.

"Thanks, Ryou." Bakura added dryly.

"Anytime," Ryou responded cheerfully, pleased to have escaped punishment– he suddenly felt a sharp smack on his inner thigh, and closed his mouth.

"What did I say?" Bakura growled, curving his hand and digging into the soft, supple flesh of Ryou's thigh. Ryou moaned quietly, but didn't speak. "Well, Yuugi obviously visited here again and by the time, you knew, so why don't you enlighten me now…where the _fuck_ is Prince _fucking_ Yami?"

Ryou sighed in disgust. "Vampire or no vampire, you lot are all the same. He's at the damn _bar_."

"And you know this because…?" Bakura prompted in exasperation, one hand running roughly through his hair.

"Oh," Ryou smiled brightly, hoping to distract Bakura from realizing. "He stopped by to leave a message with me to tell you he was at McGyver's."

"Well, that's bloody nice," Bakura muttered in frustration, "About time he – _WHAT?"_

Ryou shrank back in his chair, giving a very small '_eep_', as Bakura shot up in his chair, about ready to break something.

"That fucking prince is unbe-fucking-lievable," Bakura laughed incredulously. Throwing his hands in the air, he stomped out of the room, knowing that he was supposed to be angrier but unable to find the strength after the rest of the afternoon's proceedings. "And I've become his goddamn babysitter!"

For the first time, as a vampire, Bakura felt like he needed to lie down for a very, very long time.

­

* * *

Like any other night and like any other bar, McGyver's was enjoying a buzzing atmosphere among its thirty-some patrons. Outside, the weather had grown chillier as the darkness deepened, but the bright, warm yellow lights that grew out of every surface inside the bar made a defiant contrast.

The radio blared rock music across the hall, the booths were almost all occupied with boisterous youths home early for the upcoming weekend, and the pleasantly plump waitresses busing the tables periodically squeaked and giggled whenever a passing, warm hand gave their ass an appreciative squeeze.

Yep, Jou thought from his place behind the bar counter as he dried shot glasses, all was in order.

Finishing one glass and flipping the towel over his shoulder, Jou glanced down the row of people sitting at his counter, checking to make sure no one was want of anything. His eye caught on the last man, seated furthest away from him, who slumped over the counter, his chin on his hand, and pouted at the ground.

Intrigued, Jou set down the glass and pulled his towel off his shoulder, drying his hands as he walked over to Seto Kaiba, who barely looked at him before dropping his gaze to the floor again.

"What can I get you, kiddo?" Jou prompted, still slowly drying each of his fingers.

"Don't 'kiddo' me," Seto responded half-heartedly, not at all in character with his usual biting reactions. Jou blinked.

Amused, the bartender set the towel down on the counter and crouched down to Seto's line of sight. "Well, lemme at least fix that glum expression by treating you to a drink, mm?"

That drew a reaction out of the man.

"Oh, because that worked so well less time." Seto raised his head and gave Jou a dirty look. "I have the strangest memories of what happened after I passed out, and I didn't wake up until almost nightfall the next day! Hell, I'm still a little hazy over what day of the week it is!"

Jou just grinned at him in insolence, and took a small bow. "Something tells me you needed that."

Seto just snorted, refusing to comment. Still grinning, Jou turned around to grab a bottle and a glass off the shelf.

"Oh hell no," Seto warned. "None of your fancy shi– "

"Relax," Jou interrupted, calmly pouring the drink. "It's just scotch."

As Seto hid his gratitude and snatched the glass to down the contents, Jou checked to make sure the rest of the counter was satisfied, and pulled over a chair to sit in front of the other man.

"Talk to me," Jou prompted, though Seto was trying very hard to feign boredom and ignorance. Sighing, the bartender reached over, and poured Seto some more scotch into his glass. "Come on, I'm only a bartender, and I forget easily. Talk to me."

"Well," Seto gave in, setting down his newly-empty glass and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "This is complicated."

"My favourite," Jou calmly replied, leaning back in his chair.

"Not mine," Seto shot, irritated. "I don't like playing a starring role in any soap opera. God knows there's enough of that trash on TV alone."

When Jou didn't respond and simply continued to look at him expectedly, Seto sighed. "I'm just not very good with change – of any kind. All my life, I've expected to do a certain number of things in a certain order: make connections, be successful, start a company, create a fortune, find a girl…"

"Sounds healthy enough," Jou prompted in good nature, when Seto seemed to sink back into his own thoughts. "So, where's the problem?"

"But there is no problem with that!" Seto protested, distractedly knocking on the counter with his empty glass. Jou filled it again. "No problem…with _that_."

"Then with that?" Jou prompted again quietly.

"There is no girl," Seto bit out, mouth twisted in exasperation. "There's never really _been_ one, apart from the blind dates my secretary waves under my nose.

"And now…" he laughed bitterly, and took another swig of his drink, "Now it's not even a girl anymore."

"There is a guy?" Jou clarified, voice still calm and neutral, though Seto winced as if it'd been an insult anyway.

"_Yes_," Seto groaned, and turned his glass upside down over his mouth, attempting to suck out every last drop. When there was nothing more, he clanged the glass back on the counter. "Shit, I want to be drop-dead drunk again."

"So what's the problem?" Jou asked again, wanting Seto to admit it, confront it.

"The problem," Seto answered between clenched teeth, "is that I am _attracted_ to another man – a _doorman_, in fact – and have possibly already done _more_ than just fantasize about him – all because of _your freaking liquor."_

"I wouldn't say you completely abhor the incident," Jou observed, crossing one leg over the other and brushing lint off his pant leg. "You're back again, aren't you?"

Seto opened his mouth to abuse the bartender again, but Jou interrupted him. "And besides, there's nothing wrong with wanting one sex and then the other. I've done it myself."

"What do you mean?" Seto asked, confused and completely distracted from what he'd been intending to say.

"I used to love men too," Jou told him, shrugging. "And I've been with plenty of them – our mutual friend Yuugi, for example, has shared my bed many times in the past."

"Really?" Seto raised his voice on the question, suddenly interested. "I know someone who's going to be the…butt…of many jokes for a very long time to come."

Jou chuckled, seeing his words were comforting Seto though he wouldn't admit it. "But, you know, I don't love men anymore in the same way."

"So I'll get over it too?" Seto suddenly pleaded, hopeful.

"It's not an _illness_," Jou corrected, amused. "It's simply circumstance. My own circumstance just happened to be that a girl thrust herself into my life one day, and I fell incredibly hard in love with her, without meaning to."

"This girl is your wife?" Seto asked, surprised that this lowly bartender could have gotten further in life than he had.

"No, this girl has been my girlfriend for a very long time," Jou responded, smiling slightly at the thought. "She refuses to marry me, because she wants to let me know that she isn't forcing me to stay in our relationship. I can leave, and go be with other men or women any time I want."

"Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of a relationship?" Seto shot wryly, amused by this woman. "She's practically tempting you with the door."

"Why, certainly not," Jou blinked. "Just because I can leave doesn't mean I'm ever going to. I won't marry her just the same, because I want her to know that I am with her by my own choice, not by any law."

"Who _is_ this woman?" Seto asked incredulously, unable to understand how anyone could consider such an unstable relationship.

"She was one of your old secretaries, actually," Jou smiled fully now. "Her name is Tea."

Seto shook his head, exasperated with Jou's opinions on marriage but too tired to tell him otherwise, "Small world."

"You said it," said a deep voice.

"Ah," Jou looked up and nodded in greeting, "Evening, Yami. Having a drink with your friend there?"

Yami glanced at Malik standing next to him, upper lip curling slightly at the perverse thought of calling this unwilling slave a friend. "Just get us some beers, eh Jou?"

As Jou got up to get the drinks, Yami and Malik sat down next to Seto. The CEO turned to look at the pair and raised an eyebrow.

"'Scuse me", Seto called, something nagging at the back of his mind. When Yami turned to him, expectantly, the CEO furrowed his brow, "I have the strangest idea that I know you, but not how, when, or why. Could you enlighten– ?"

"No," Yami cut him off, stung from the memory of seeing this man last when he was here with Yuugi, "You must be mistaken. I don't know you."

Jou, standing with his back to all of them as he poured, heard this exchange and knew it false, but kept silent. Something told him that all would be rectified in some–

The front door crashed open. It smashed into the wall with an echoing boom, and hit the switch, turning off the radio and silencing the rest of the bar.

Yuugi stood in the doorway, his breath seeming to steam from the sudden draft of cold air that infiltrated the bar. His hair stood up in a messy array of spikes, and his eyes were wild as they searched the bar for one person, and one person alone.

"YOU," he shouted, one finger violently shooting out to point in Yami's direction. The vampire, eyes wide in surprise and hope, just stood there. "YOU ARE THE LOWEST SCUM I'VE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO BE IN THE VACINITY OF. YOU SHOULD BE SHOT AND PUT OUT OF YOUR STUPID MISERY."

It was going to be that way, was it? Yami narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, straightening his back and looking down on the human that stood across the room. Fuck the pain he felt panging somewhere in his heart.

"Be so kind as to at least maintain coherence," the vampire replied, a cold, deep voice that stretched across the distance. The rest of the silent, watching bar fell away until it was only the two of them, both standing on either side of a chasm to infinity.

"You know what?" Yuugi shouted, angry out of his mind. "Fuck you and your supposedly amazing self! Why the _hell_ did you even bother with little old me then? _Don't fucking TOY with me!"_

"Don't presume," Yami snarled, each word that the human yelled cutting him like nothing else could, "to think that you are anything _special_, to anyone – least of all, me."

"Oh, don't give me your BULLSHIT!" Yuugi shouted back, fists clenched at his sides. He took an angry step forward. "You and your _fucking_ arrogance can just go straight to _hell_." – he took another step forward, and then another; the distance between them decreasing quickly – "How the _fuck_ did I _ever_ trust you?"

"Clearly," Yami growled, showing teeth in a twisted, bitter grin, "your trust was wasted. I never wanted _anything_ from you anyway – it's all fucking _worthless_, in the end– "

Yuugi punched the vampire, his quick, angry fist connecting with cool, cruel cheek, and snapping Yami's head to the left like a doll.

For a split second, Yuugi was horrified at what he'd done and terrified of having snapped Yami's neck. But then, the vampire straightened his neck in slow, eerie fashion, snarled, and Yuugi hated him all the more.

Yuugi swung with his left fist, wanting to hit the other again, but this time, Yami was prepared, and grabbed the human's fist, mid-swing. He used his other fist to punch Yuugi in the chest, hard, and sent him flying across the room into a booth of drunken youths.

"Hey! Get your ass off of me, dumbass!" one of them called, pushing Yuugi off of himself.

"Oh, fucking shut the fuck up!" Yuugi growled violently back and swiveled around to punch the youth square in the nose. Blood splattered everywhere, and his neighbouring friends started shouting at Yuugi, swearing and threatening to beat him bloody.

A squint-eyed, and obviously drunk, burly man then tried to hit Yuugi back, putting all his power behind one swing that would knock Yuugi out for a very long time. As the drunken man stood up to punch him though, he tripped at the lost moment, and his fist collided with the sternum of a man quietly watching at the adjacent table.

As the second man tried to cough life back into his lungs, an even bigger man sitting next to him – a friend, perhaps – stood up, and threw a hard punch on the first, squint-eyed man's shoulder. As that man crumpled, his friends all jumped from their seats and attacked the bigger man, who punched a couple into other tables, and angered the people sitting there as well.

Five minutes later, the entire bar was embroiled in a massive free-for-all brawl that didn't really have a reason or purpose. Chairs were flying in the air, tables had been shoved across the floor several times at different people, and glasses were zeroing on targets with drunken precision.

Amidst this mess, Jou was enjoying himself with enraging patrons by shooting liquor at their livid faces with the hose, and ducking behind the counter when things were thrown back. Seto was crouched next to him, aiming a second hose with one hand and zipping sharp, shiny silverware across the room with his other hand, laughing loudly in the deafening roar.

Yuugi himself resembled an enraged cat, hissing and punching people left, right, and center without discrimination. His face shone in anger, sweat, and excitement, and his hair was a wild thing atop his head, a physical manifestation of the fury he felt inside.

Even Yami was fighting, in an uncharacteristic show of emotion and humanness, his vampire-strength-enhanced punches sending people up into the air like bowling pins and attracting even more angry-drunk men his way. He growled at them, calling to their baser instincts to fight him, and using every inch of his body to attack those who were close enough.

And throughout all this, watching the entire spectacle in the comforts and safety of the roof of the building across the street, sat Bakura and Ryou, arm-in-arm, laughing with tears in their eyes, around them scattered the popcorn Bakura had stolen from the movie theater down the street.

A loud battle cry from below made both Ryou and Bakura look down, just in time to see Yuugi holding a barstool over his head and yelling until he was blue in the face. A second later, they saw another man running towards Yuugi, his head down in a football hustle and all intent to bowl Yuugi over.

But just before the man's head connected with Yuugi's stomach, Yuugi brought the stool down with as much force as he could muster and broke it over the man's head, freezing him in his tracks. And as he fell, Yuugi yelled an even louder cry of victory, elbowing another man in the eye as he tried to shove Yuugi to the ground.

Ryou and Bakura broke out in even louder laughter, rolling around the roof, over the popcorn. To think that little, flirty Yuugi could be so violent…

"_Listen_," Bakura suddenly sat up, and Ryou froze, straining to hear. The next moment, he heard it too: police sirens, many from the sounds of it, becoming louder and louder by the minute as they neared the bar.

But inside, complete pandemonium continued, no one having any intention of leaving early. At that moment, one of the men was thrust against the bar's windows, his nose flattened and eyes cross-eyed.

"Should we help?" Ryou asked, already knowing the answer, and grinning.

"Help?" Bakura laughed evilly, putting his arm around his boyfriend again, "I think the best way to 'help' the two of them is to let them cool off with the police."

Ryou nodded in conspiracy, and winked.

"Besides," Bakura continued, standing up and offering a hand to Ryou, "I don't know about you, but I'm not in the mood to deal with an emotional vampire and a bloodthirsty human" – he blinked – "that sounds so wrong."

"I completely agree, Bakura," Ryou giggled. "After all, babysitter knows best, eh?"

"Damn straight."

* * *

Okay! I hope this has cleared up the questions I had from a bunch of you. As I explained to one person, the weird order of events last chapter was the influence of a certain book I recently read, The Bone People by Keri Hulme. If you haven't read it, I really recommend the book; it's amazing!

Anyway…hope you enjoyed this chapter. :] Please review and give me incentive to keep writing. I need it!


	11. Blind Violinist

_**11: Blind Violinist**_

_**

* * *

**_

Yuugi had never been so livid in his life.

He'd never been in a prison cell either, nor had he ever been the cause of so many black eyes or drunkards hunched over in pain. He'd also never had so much trouble discerning between the violent urge to elbow the man snoring drunkenly next to him and the desire to scream nonsensical obscenities at the vampire sitting on a bench across from him.

Fortunately, he decided to settle for a compromise of both.

"Being the fancy-pants-magical-being that you are, I thought you'd already be gone from here," Yuugi hissed at Yami, arms and legs crossed, one toe tapping. He paused for a moment to shove the drunken man's head away from his own before returning to glare at the vampire. "Didn't think you'd even bother getting caught in the first place."

One side of Yami's mouth turned up in a bitter smile as he regarded the human, "What, you think I'm here to keep you company?" There was no reason to tell Yuugi that he'd been distracted with the fight until the last moment, and by then, he'd been unable to leave as he had sensed the police waiting outside every bar exit.

At that moment, a patron from the bar suddenly vomited on the man sitting next to Yami, but before the latter could react, the vampire turned and gave him a cold stare promising terrible pain if he reacted obnoxiously. Said man nervously swallowed and took out a napkin from his pocket, pretending to ignore Yami. "Don't be so naïve, Yuugi."

Yuugi cut off a sarcastic laugh and reached up a hand to shove the unconscious man on his bench away again. "I gave up thinking you had any actual interest in me when I woke up this morning – alone, hung over, and sporting a new piercing I don't remember asking for. I may be an idiot, but you're a fucking asshole."

"I suppose you think the entire situation was my doing," Yami crossed his arms, his voice taking on a tint of sarcasm as well as something Yuugi couldn't quite define. "After all, it's not like you offered yourself to me or anything of the like. I was clearly acting like a wild beast, plundering the depths of your innocence and inexperience."

"Well there's a fucking difference between attraction and fucking - I don't know -DINNER!" Yuugi shouted as he clenched his fists and used one to punch the unconscious man's head away from him again. In a spectacular show, the man's head ricocheted off the wall and landed heavily on the other man next to him, knocking him out in the process.

However, Yuugi had eyes only for the object of his immediate frustration. "If I'd known you were just fucking HUNGRY, I wouldn't have let you SEDUCE ME. I'd have told you where the nearest diner was!"

Yami raised an eyebrow, biting back the comment that vampires didn't eat burgers.

Yuugi saw it anyway and growled in sudden anger. This was too much. The goddamn vampire was still trying to act high and mighty?

"AND I KNOW YOU DON'T EAT PEOPLE FOOD, YAMI. SHUT UP. JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP," Yuugi shouted, shooting up to stare down at the still seated vampire. He was so angry – at himself, at the vampire, at the absurdity of the entire situation. How was it possible that one person could come into his life and in just a few short days turn his life inside out? How DARE Yami make him feel so utterly crushed and humiliated!

"YOU'RE RIGHT. I'M THE ONE AT FAULT. YOU KNOW WHAT I DID WRONG? I BECAME INFATUATED WITH A BACKSTABBING, ONE-TRACK-MINDED, TWO-FACED, SELFISH ASSFUCKINGHOLE." Yuugi had been cursed all his life with the unfortunate aspect of tearing up when he got truly angry. And in this situation, he was so angry at everyone and everything, that he could barely see Yami through his blurry vision by the end of his tirade.

"Just…fuck it all," he finally bit out, feeling suddenly alone in a prison cell full of the drunken, the unconscious, and the sick. When there was no response from the vampire, Yuugi slowly sat down again and sighed, a sound suspiciously close to a sob escaping him.

"I wish I could just leave," he angrily whispered to himself. "Just leave…and forget about how you make me feel."

Yami had heard that. It was damn near impossible not to, considering his vampiric abilities, but before the sudden clamoring of his heart could distract him, he swallowed and leaned forward.

"Do you hate me?" Yami asked, his deep voice quietly rumbling through Yuugi's chest. The human raised his head to look at the vampire, his expression defeated.

"No."

"Do you resent me?" Yami asked again, imagining Yuugi erupting angrily again with that expression from before…Damn it, what was it of?

"Ha," Yuugi answered sarcastically, his voice slightly raspy. "I wish."

"Why?" Yami probed, knowing he was treading precarious ground, but finding himself unable to resist asking. Yuugi was such a contradiction. "Don't you resent me?"

"Why do you care?" Yuugi scoffed. "Just fucking disappear like you did this morning, and you'll never have to worry about me again."

"You expected me to stay," Yami raised an eyebrow, "given the mood you were in when you awoke?"

"A mood which was partially caused by waking up alone," Yuugi argued, looking up to glare at the vampire. Mid-glare, he blinked in suspicion. "How would you know anyway?"

Yami didn't answer, so Yuugi edged forward on his bench and observed the other's expression. "You were spying on me."

Yami still didn't answer, regarding him silently, hoping the human would say something else revealing. Talking was a human thing, after all. The silence continued. It was, wasn't it?

"Creeper," Yuugi finally goaded, an accusing look on his face that made Yami bristle in offense. Leave it to this one to turn a kindness into a perversion. "I thought you couldn't go out in the day anyway. What kind of vampire are you? The retarded kind –?"

"You know absolutely nothing," Yami suddenly shot back, his eyes flashing in irritation. There was only so much he could swallow from a human, of all things, even if it was from this particular one. "You don't have a damned clue."

"Oh yeah?" Yuugi retaliated. "What is it that I don't know?"

"You are lost," Yami shook his head, a crooked smile on his lips with his unexpected revelation. "You do not know what you want. You've never known what it is you want from this city or your life. You don't even know what you want from me."

Yuugi just stared at him, unable to think of a clever response in his surprise at this attack. His mouth hung upon indignantly.

"And yelling at me isn't going to help you figure that out," Yami concluded, his lips acquiring a condescending curve. He sat back, his back touching the cold cement walls of their cell. Maybe it was time for him to leave–

"You're wrong. I do know what I want." Yuugi managed as he regained some sense, though his expression continued to look bewildered. He ran a hand through his hair, as if quickly contemplating whether to say something, and then exhaled. "From you, anyway."

The vampire sat in silence, regarding the human sitting before him. A being that under any other circumstance would simply have been a quick meal or one of Bakura's play things. Except that in this circumstance, the being in question was this unique, intriguing human – worthy of a little more attention than that. He was Yuugi.

"What do you want from me, then?" Yami had nothing left to lose anymore. Everything that was so hopeful before may as well have gone up in flames – or was it meant to exist in the first place, this type of complicated, precarious relationship? So frustrating and so magical: the juxtaposition of the most insufferable sensations that made him wish for death even as they made him feel alive.

"You."

"Pardon?"

"You heard me, Yami. I said you."

"…I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Goddamnit. I…" Yuugi squeezed his eyes shut, counted to five, and then stared at the vampire's expressionless face. "Oh fuck it. FUCK it to bits. I just want you."

"What? Yami couldn't comprehend what was occurring. Throughout his long life, he'd come to understand the hard lesson that despite how much he wanted something, wishing did not make it so – it never made it so. And as much as he wanted Yuugi's words to be true, he knew he had probably misheard. Fucking misheard such an important thing.

"You fucking DIPSHIT," Yuugi exclaimed as he shook his head in disbelief. There was no reason to keep it a secret anymore in light of Yami's reaction, or lack thereof. "You drive me CRAZY! Despite everything – all this crazy shit that built and built until it landed us in goddamn jail – I can't help still liking you. Still wanting to fucking BE with you."

He paused to take a shaky breath and ran another hand through his hair. "So stop sitting there with that confused puppy expression and answer me."

"I do not have a 'confused puppy' expression," Yami denied irritably, trying to focus on his thoughts. What he was hearing had to be false.

"Yami," Yuugi tried to catch his attention. Yami just further furrowed his brow. "Yami, do you even care that I'm waiting for your response?"

Silence.

"Do you even care at all?"

"What a stupid question," Yami looked up, his expression surprised.

"Probably," Yuugi muttered. Wow. Apparently Yami really did have such a low opinion of him. Great. Fantastic. Not every day one gets judged by a lovely, mythical creature and found wanting. Yuugi felt an inexplicable urge to bang his head on the wall behind him. Or cry. Or both.

"Isn't it obvious that you've bewitched me?" Yami asked quietly. He calmly gazed at Yuugi's slumped form across from him until the other looked up.

"What do you mean?" Yuugi blinked, unable to understand what the vampire was saying.

"I _was_ watching you this morning," Yami admitted with a small smile, "but that's only because I didn't want you to truly wake up alone after the previous night, even if you never wanted to talk to me again."

"But why would I?" Yuugi interrupted. He coughed self-consciously, "Last night was amazing, even if I wasn't expected to enjoy it."

"Did you?" Yami's lips twitched upward. "Bakura always tells me that for a human, the paralysis in our fangs is like an aphrodisiac. I was, well, hoping you'd enjoy it."

"But you fed on me!" Yuugi exclaimed, confused.

"Not because I was hungry," Yami replied, one eyebrow raised. "But I can't help it if _your_ blood is _my_ aphrodisiac in return. I've never tasted anything like you before."

"What's so special about me?" Yuugi scratched his head, brushing his bangs out of his eyes in the process and exposing the most vulnerable expression that Yami had ever seen. It was that very vulnerability made the vampire realize that he had to answer honestly…or ruin any last chance of what he wanted.

"Your blood sings to me," the vampire replied with a slight shrug, as if to deflect Yuugi's questioning stare. "I feel it in my veins, on my tongue, down my spine. When you are close enough, it's"– Yami hesitated for a brief moment and then gave in – "all I can do keep from pulling you into my arms and flitting away somewhere with you."

"But why?"

"To be alone," Yami answered, as if it were obvious.

"Why?"

"Because I want to be with you too."

"…Why?"

"Because I want you too."

"Ha!…Why?"

"Because," Yami faltered, searching for an answer that would explain the inexplicable, describe the indescribable, answer the unanswerable.

_Because I want you t–_ _Because I want you too?_

Suddenly, it all made perfect sense to the vampire: they liked each other. _They_ _fucking_ _wanted each other_.

Why the hell were they fighting again?

"Come here and I'll tell you," Yami suddenly grinned, the smile reaching his eyes. "I need to whisper it."

With a slight roll of his eyes, Yuugi slide of his bench and took two steps towards Yami, bending down so the vampire could whisper in his ear. The vampire leaned closer, licking his lips and smiling wider.

"You're such a compliment fisher, Yuugi," the vampire chided, and then grabbed the human around the middle before he could react, sitting him down on his lap. "You know _exactly_ why."

And with that, Yami's mouth found Yuugi's soft, upturned lips, and consumed him in a blinding, all-consuming, passionate kiss. And then another, and another. And then two more. The kisses melted into one another, overwhelming sensations racking Yuugi's body as the vampire pulled him closer.

"Because when we kiss," Yami murmured, "I don't need anyone else."

Yami's hands found their way under Yuugi's shirt to caress his smooth chest and send shivers down his spine, while Yuugi entangled himself in Yami's hair and pulled him closer, crushing them together until Yami groaned slightly.

A smug smile on Yuugi's mouth, he broke away long enough to wink at the vampire, "And here I thought it was because of my shining personality."

"You're hilarious," Yami responded, his sharp teeth grazing Yuugi's lower lip and making him whimper while he sat on the vampire's lap. He chuckled quietly, "I could not have imagined any worse miscommunication than we just created between the two of us. How absurd."

"Honey, we're still suffering from the consequences of it," Yuugi gestured at their cell, surprised that the rest of its overnight inhabitants hadn't cared to pay attention to the drama at the back end of it. Probably because they had their own problems to deal with, being so ill and beat up, he thought, answering his own question.

Yami turned back Yuugi's chin to dive into another kiss, a deep, slow penetration of the latter's mouth that left him breathless and docile. The vampire was clearly enjoying his dominance, one hand rubbing slow circles into Yuugi's back just above his waist line, and the other tracing patterns up the inside of Yuugi's thigh.

"That consequence," murmured Yami as Yuugi attempted to turn and seduce him into another kiss, but the vampire suddenly reached a hand up and grabbed the other's hair, pulling his head back and making him grimace in slight pain. The vampire rumbled his answer against Yuugi's exposed throat, "is easily rectified."

At that moment, a man who had been calmly sitting further along the bench – a man that Yuugi had only noticed earlier because of his striking blond hair and charcoal-outlined eyes – stood up and walked over to Yuugi, his face expressionless.

"Uh," Yuugi swallowed, "Can I help you?"

"We need to leave," Yami told the man from where he sat under the human, his voice apologetic. "Please see to it."

As the man walked away, Yuugi could only think of two things. "One, those are the most interesting violet eyes I've ever seen – and I've seen some pretty cool shit in the clubs – and two, if he's your servant, why didn't you leave with him before?"

Yami licked a trail up Yuugi's jaw line and circled his ear, making Yuugi moan with unexpected pleasure. "How could I leave such a delicious snack?"

Yuugi snorted, "Very funny."

"In all honesty though," Yami corrected, feeling guilty, "Malik is a slave, not a servant, and I'd do anything to reverse the process that made him so."

"Why don't you just set him free?" Yuugi asked slowly, brow furrowed as he turned to look at the vampire. "It's not like it's that difficult."

"Vampire nature, unfortunately," Yami brought one of Yuugi's delicate hands up to his mouth and gave it a tender kiss, as if in regret for his answer, "is a little more binding. And though I have a fully compliant slave, I have no need nor want of such a being."

"Then how did you find him?" Yuugi continued to be skeptical of Yami's explanation. "Bad deal on Ebay?"

"Violation of vampire code," Yami answered before thinking. The word 'secret' wasn't placed in front of 'vampiric code' because it was supposedly obvious, but here a single human was getting him carried away.

As Yuugi opened his mouth to ask another question, Yami seized it in another fervent kiss, sealing off any more conversation while they waiting for Malik's return.

* * *

When they inevitably came up for air, Yuugi shuddered in Yami's arms while he tried to catch his breath. The vampire, having no need of such things, took advantage of the moment to cradle the human in his arms affectionately. Such a strange love, the vampire thought absently.

"Out of curiosity," Yuugi eventually asked, reluctant to encourage the vampire to move seeing as he was more than comfortable on his lap, "How exactly are we planning on leaving? Last time I checked, vampires can't go through cement without considerable _visible _damage to said cement."

"Says who?" Yami chuckled, squeezing Yuugi a little tighter as he felt the human nuzzling his neck with a smile. The vampire contemplated the thought that he was making Yuugi happy, and felt an answering smile spreading on his own face.

It had been such a _stupid_ fight.

"Says me," Yuugi responded playfully, grasping the collar of Yami's black leather jacket – the worse for wear after their fight – in both hands and tugging his face down for another kiss. However, he snorted in the middle of it. "That bar fight –"

"I know," Yami groaned, grimacing at the indignity of it all. He'd acted like an actual animal in the bar, giving in to his baser instincts, almost giving away his long-hidden identity–

"Was _epic_," Yuugi finished in awe. A smug grin made its way onto his mouth, something Yami found momentarily bewildering. "I've never done anything so- so absolutely legendary in my life!"

"Even though the entire episode could have been avoided," Yami responded dryly, "had we not each decided to mope in our own world out of our self-centeredness?"

"A blessing in disguise then," Yuugi nodded knowledgeably, patting Yami on the shoulder in mock-sympathy.

"How so?" The vampire couldn't resist asking while mentally remarking that Yuugi's thought process was always much too amusing.

"If we hadn't had our fight," Yuugi explained as if it should have been clear to the vampire, "then I never would have been able to experience one of life's gifts to the utterly bored: an adventure!"

"_You_ are bored?" Yami tried to clarify, losing track of the conversation as he received a mental encryption from Malik, who was walking down the hall back towards their prison cell, key in hand. Even the forewarning sounded robotic, Yami thought in disgust. How the hell was he supposed to fix this other vampire?

Yuugi noticed the slight glazing of Yami's eyes, and stopped mid-sentence in his response, knowing it was falling on deaf ears (or drunken ears, if he counted the rest of the people in their cell, but they didn't really matter, if he thought about it). Yuugi gazed at the vampire's face for a moment, and then reached up to kiss his cheek tenderly.

"What was that for?" Yami looked down a moment later, pleasantly surprised.

Yuugi shrugged. "Just wanted to tell you that I'm grateful to not be picking up pieces of my heart from the cell floor right now."

Yami briefly looked at him in silence, calculating something. Then he kissed Yuugi's cheek in return and smiled, "As am I."

They both looked over as the cell door swung open with an obnoxious creak, a stone-faced individual holding it open with a bow, his blond hair falling haphazardly around his face.

As both Yami and Yuugi stood up and picked their way over sprawling bodies and limbs, they shared an amused glance at their luck for being placed in the cell full of the half-comatose fighters from the bar. It had been almost too convenient.

"Do you speak?" Yuugi asked Malik as the former stepped out the door. When the latter didn't respond, Yuugi added, "Like…English?"

"I'll introduce you when we leave," Yami interrupted, placating the aggravated human by reaching one arm around him and pulling him closer to his side. "Our next problem is walking out the front door without being noticed."

"Can't we go out the back?" Yuugi scratched his arm, thinking back to all the movies he'd watched on the subject. There'd always been some hidden place the characters had escaped through…

"This is a prison, love," the vampire squeezed the other's arm in affection, continuing to find him inexplicably endearing. Malik just watched both of them without expression, motionless. "There is no back door, by design."

"Oh," Yuugi answered, feeling dumb. "Can't we just, I dunno, pull a damn fire alarm or something?"

"It…" Yami paused in thought, "would have to be real…" –Yuugi mentally rolled his eyes for saying something stupid again–

"But that can be arranged." Yami concluded with a twinkle in his eye. He nodded to the other vampire, "Will you– ?"

Malik immediately bowed and turned to walk off in the opposite direction, leaving Yami feeling resentful and Yuugi baffled.

"If he's a slave," Yuugi tilted his head sideways in question, looking up at the vampire, "why do you treat him so politely?"

"Because I'm not a 'fucking asshole'," Yami answered wryly. "And I told you, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"But it's your fault," Yuugi concluded, watching the vampire knowingly. "You fucked up, didn't you?"

"Thanks," Yami muttered, feeling the weight of the accusation bear down on him again, when all he wanted to do was grab Yuugi and do something reckless and satisfying.

"I'm not saying that to piss you off," Yuugi forced the vampire to look him in the face, and then softly cupped one of his cheeks. "I'd just like to point out that, being an expert in fuck ups myself, it's never too late to fix them."

Yami just sighed, pulling the other's hand down but holding on to it as they made their way down the hall after Malik. "I wish you were right."

"I am," Yuugi nodded, swinging their joined hands slightly, "You'll see."

* * *

I…am…aaalllliiiiiivvvvve! I come back from the dead to bring you THE NEXT INSTALLMENT IN THIS GODDAMN FANFICTION. And yes, I know it's been a long time in coming. But we all are, so hey, don't bite my head off, kay? I love each and every one of you who reviewed and asked me to continue. Thank yooou!

Anyway, I know this chapter took place in one location, which to me is typically boring (hence why the location switches up in other chapters) but I felt like Yuugi and Yami just needed to have a damn talk to sort their shit out. And believe me, in the first two drafts of this chapter, they continued to dig themselves even deeper into their misunderstandings and it was SO DAMN ANNOYING. But hopefully I finally managed to force them to make up in a reasonable and believable manner. You be the judge. Let me know!

Also, who can correctly interpret the title of this chapter? Free words of praise to the winner! :D


	12. Hell is a Circus Around the Corner

_**12: Hell is a Circus Around The Corner **_

* * *

Try as he might, Seto could not remember what had inspired him to accept that damn drink that lying, no-good Yuugi had gotten him. Sitting in his office during a lull in the chaos two days later, he decided to at least be grateful for having woken up in a familiar place, if nothing else.

But though he had indeed awoken in his own bed that morning, it was wearing his silk pajamas inside out and his head and pillows at the foot of the bed, his less-than-dignified self carefully tucked in under the covers.

"What the hell?" Seto had sputtered. His mind slowly picking up speed, he'd cast about for any memories of the night before, anything to make sense of why he was suddenly feeling so ridiculous in that pose.

Flashes of the dream he'd been taken from just moments before obediently crossed his mind instead, and Seto blushed, feeling strokes of heat drift over his stomach and in between his legs. Something sexy and sensual, he recalled, with arms pinning him to his pillows and a tongue doing things to his body he didn't know was possible.

"Some wild imagination you got there, boy," Seto had muttered, one arm wiggling free of the covers to rub his eyes and throw back the rest of the sheets. Stretching with a groan, he'd added, "Guess deprivation really brought the wildest of dreams, eh?"

Rolling out of bed and mentally applauding himself for conjuring up the best dream sex he'd ever had, Seto started unbuttoning his shirt and marveled at the idiocy of putting it on inside out _and_ mismatching the buttons- and suddenly realizing that though it was possible he'd put on his own sleep outfit, he couldn't have also tucked himself into his own bed.

Someone else had to have done that, Seto had realized in the bathroom, watching his face in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. And that someone had most likely helped Seto back to his penthouse the night before- had it been Yuugi?

He'd have to ask the loudmouth, Seto decided, though somehow he couldn't see Yuugi being noble enough to help him home. That party boy would've been too busy trying to pick up some tail for the night, especially after Seto had expressly forbid Yuugi from making him do anything ridiculous while inebriated.

Poor Yuugi had been quite miffed after that, Seto smirked back in his office. But the young CEO couldn't always oblige an old, obnoxious friend- especially with the current problems his company was having with electricians of all things…Hadn't he come up with some kind of solution to that, actually?

In his office, Seto paused in thought. His brow furrowed as he attempted to remember what he felt had been possibly an extraordinary breakthrough at the bar that night. Could it...? No. Damn, he couldn't remember a thing.

Seto's mind idly drifted back to the intensely sexual dream he'd had the morning after that special drink had knocked him out. Glancing through the window in his office to make sure no one was about to approach him, Seto relaxed into his large, overstuffed office chair and let himself return to that night.

The first thing he remembered were the hands that had traced patterns down his chest in steady spirals, deliberately traveling down his body and awakening a fire in their wake; the slow and warm strokes along his hips that sent shivers through his bones, his skin prickling in a pleasure he could not restrain. But nothing was as devastating to his senses as the gentle whispers of breath that tickled the hair on his legs, almost-words that promised and condemned in the same moment, soothing his resistance and caressing his desire.

There were also lips. Lush, demanding lips that had parted his and delved into the depths of his mouth, wresting a small moan from his throat with each expedition, again, and again. Knowing fingers traced the line of his jaw, grasping it gently and turning it to the side, while a tongue lightly lapped at his throat, keeping time with the pulse in his neck. It was maddening- so, so very maddening. Oh, that mouth.

Seto moaned louder, his own hands reaching for the source of this exquisite pleasure. It was too late, Seto knew, for him to do anything but helplessly submit to the touch he so craved, his whole body screaming in abandon, yes, yes, oh yes…

It was several minutes later that the CEO of Kaiba Corp. found himself lounging on his office desk, legs spread, his whole body yearning for the release his fantasy had invoked. A madness danced behind his eyes as he noticed the swelling bulge that was making his suit pants most definitely tight.

Seto groaned in lust, his mind pulling at him to return to the sensual thoughts that were acting on him so while he tried to part ways with his desire and return to a more professional appearance. Oh, but how he'd enjoyed having those well-developed arms pressing him into the bed, eyes of the most beautiful violet color promising to do terrible things to his oh-so-willing body…

Seto squeezed his eyes shut in confusion, his mind and body struggling to harmonize against his hesitancy to admit to himself who he was attracted to, while his body cried out at him to give in.

It had been Marik who'd taken him home that night. Seto had discovered _that_ the hard way the following day upon into his office building and meeting eyes with the doorman. Marik's knowing glance raking his body had sent a shock through Seto's system as he hurried past, events from the night before abruptly returning in obscene clarity.

In the elevator, Seto recalled how the other man had carried him all the way to his apartment, slung over his shoulder haphazardly- Seto swore the doorman found some perverse pleasure out of it, knowing that he would've never allowed such manhandling had he been sober.

Perhaps that was why Seto had had the energy to connect drunken neurons and confront Marik upon being deposited at the front door of his penthouse, accusing the bemused man of taking advantage of him. Unfortunately, any validity that the accusation might have had immediately evaporated as Seto, who'd been holding onto the door key, waved one arm to emphasize a point and felt it slip from his awkward fingers, shattering a vase sitting on a nearby table.

There was complete silence for a moment as Seto's alcohol-addled brain struggled to comprehend what he'd just done and Marik attempted not to show too much amusement at the other's expense.

"Oops," Seto finally remarked, his mind still trying to understand what had happened to his house key even as he saw that the vase was broken. He sighed, his tired legs weakening under him as he leaned against the wall.

"T' drunk for this." Seto admitted, and Marik uncrossed his arms, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Allow me to assist," Marik gave a mocking bow in Seto's direction, turned to lift the key off the floor where it had bounced to a standstill after ricocheting off the vase, and returned to Seto's door to put one arm around the drunken man. Trying his damnedest not to appear any more foolish as he entered his own home, Seto still managed to lose his footing over the doorway, half-blind in the dark and his alcohol-hazy vision. Marik managed to grab him mid-fall, pulling him back up as his eyelids fluttered.

"Where do you sleep, love?" Marik asked, jiggling Seto until he opened his eyes again. As the harassed man muttered something about the left hallway, Marik cheerfully made his way down, only pausing a moment to scoop Seto completely off the ground and into his arms as the latter tripped over his own feet again.

"Ah, here we are," Marik chuckled as he entered what appeared to be quite a grandiose room even in the dim light shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Squinting, Marik made out a balcony beyond, with windows of neighboring buildings twinkling through the railing into the room, dancing over the wealthy CEO's expensive furniture.

Solid oak tables, dressers, nightstands with beautiful inlaid patterns against the walls; gilded paintings of breathtaking sights in nature hanging above; delicate porcelain sculptures abstract and real lining the shelves. Marik was suitably impressed in the moment he spent looking around him, Seto lying quietly in his arms.

It was beautiful, Marik decided. But despite the sheer decadence around him, the doorman sensed a kind of longing in the other's possessions, a naïve attempt to compensate an emptiness with physical things.

Marik sighed, wishing his talent for noticing these things wasn't so pronounced at the moment; it wasn't nice to pry, especially not into the life of the man who cut his paycheck- after a couple of bureaucratic levels anyway.

He looked down at Seto, who'd finally noticed their destination, but continued to sit contentedly in the doorman's arms, one hand absently stroking Marik's chest.

"No wonder you seek out naughty Yuugi's company on your nights off," Marik commented casually, feeling a curious prickle of some unpleasant emotion in his mouth as he incorrectly imagined Seto in Yuugi's bed. Shaking his head slightly to clear the image, Marick gently set down Seto on his own very large, very luxurious, and very empty bed. "Seems you're lonely, love."

"Comes and goes," Seto answered candidly with a slight shrug, clumsily unbuttoning his shirt and flinging it off behind him. Miscalculating, he lost his balance and fell back on the bed in surprise; he lay there a moment, uncertain how he had gotten there. T

hen remembering the other man, Seto gazed down his shirtless body at the other, still standing in front of him with a glint in his eye.

"And yet," Seto murmured, one hand extending to the large man in front of him, encouraging Marik to help him back up. Once standing, Seto arched his spine in a stretch, and felt a strange compulsion not to break eye contact with the other man, who seemed to be watching him strangely. That odd gleam in his eye…

What was the other man thinking? Seto wondered, his attention suddenly focused on seeing through the face in front of him. A strange feeling was building in his stomach, and his skin tingled as if in the aftermath of a fire. Seto briefly wondered how much he had had to drink that night if it was making him literally see stars in the darkness of his bedroom. Then he marveled at the difficulty of thinking at all with the liquor-induced quicksand pulling at his every attempt. And then he gave up and stopped thinking altogether.

Without a word, and for some reason he didn't understand, Seto watched Marik as he undid his own belt, nimbly unbuttoned his pants, and quietly dragged down the zipper. Dizzy from either the alcohol or his shallow breaths, Seto couldn't tell as he edged forward toward Marik, his hands not his own. He carefully grasping the bigger man's shoulders. "And yet…"

"I know what you want, love," Marik whispered huskily, one hand coming up to curl behind Seto's neck, dragging him closer, commanding, demanding. His voice was still deliciously low, his mouth tantalizingly close and his breath making Seto's lips tremble in fear and desire, as Marik announced with seductive finality, "Tonight, darlin', you'll forget just what lonely means."

* * *

Seto moaned and licked his lips in memory, his body lurching awake in a way it never had with anyone else, eager for any touch from that sexual demon again-

The CEO shook his head, trying to dispel the inappropriate and tempting images that flashed through his mind every time he even brushed upon the subject of that beguiling doorman with the violet eyes and the knowing grin. Seto gritted his teeth as he remembered walking into the building this morning and yet again being assaulted by the doorman's sensual smile and wicked wink.

But Seto couldn't deny that his senses had been assaulted for the very reason that his body wanted more, despite what he thought was right for him.

Right for him? That was an interesting though. What _was_ right for him? Wealth? Power? Fame? Seto snorted. He had all three in spades and it left him none the happier- he still yearned for something more, and all his private attempts at discovering what that _something_ was were left unanswered.

And yet, in a way, in the smallest slightest way…

Seto had to admit to himself that that man, the man who stood at the doors of his building every single day, had satisfied that eternal itch- if even for just the shortest moment.

Seto recalled the short talk he'd had with the McGyver's barman- a much more intelligent fellow than Seto had first pegged him to be. The man had said something quite useful actually, Seto realized now that he had a moment where he wasn't uncharacteristically moping at some bar counter. He crossed one leg over the other as he tilting his chair back. What had the man said?

Something about circumstance, that much Seto definitely remembered. The barman had seemed quite adamant that he wasn't suffering from some illness either, Seto rolled his eyes, though he did briefly wonder if one could go crazy from trying to reconcile a warring mind and body on the subject of sex.

Running a hand through his full, dark hair, Seto sighed, suddenly remembering how it felt to run his hands through the doorman's hair too, holding him in place when his tongue had stroked Seto into such a frenzy that Seto had cried out in simultaneous pain and pleasure.

"_I wouldn't say you completely abhor the incident,"_ Jou had casually observed last night in the bar.

"Indeed, I definitely did not," Seto remarked to no one in particular, tracing his fingers hand along his jaw, subconsciously mimicking what a particular doorman had done to him. "I did not…"

And just like that, without pomp or circumstance, without stars or fireworks or even a cry of epiphany, Seto lifted his self-imposed barriers and let himself desire something that had always drawn him like nothing else.

His mind freely returning to that passion-filled night yet again, his body echoing his need for more of it, Seto felt his cock pulse under the desk.

He grinned at the window, noticing the sunset. Not surprisingly, Seto was very, very excited to leave work at the end of the day.

* * *

There it was, that look that Seto could now admit drove him crazy. Those damn violet eyes had a glint of madness in them that seemed to eat away at the CEO's own poise, and for the first time in a very long time, Seto wanted to throw all dignity to the wind and do something reckless.

Amazed, Seto watched the other as he strode across the black marble lobby, his designer leather shoes echoing across the expanse. They were far enough away from each other, as the lobby extended across the entire underside of the building, but they had locked gazes and Seto felt such electricity sizzling over his skin that it was almost unbearable. He almost worried that they would both ignite if he got any closer- and then decided he'd welcome that.

Standing across the lobby, Marik dug his fingers into the back of the leather security chair behind him to keep himself on his feet. It seemed his wait was over; after two days of torture, trying not to jump the skittish sex bomb on his way to work, Marik finally felt his prayers being answered.

The urge to sink his teeth into the smoldering man walking towards him was so strong that he was almost willing to risk public indecency charges if it meant getting his hands on Seto- Scratch that, completely willing. What had that naughty adventure in the other man's bed done to him?

Another businessman walking out called a farewell to the popular doorman, but Marik didn't even hear it nor respond in kind like he usually would have. His eyes were on his approaching demise, taken earthly form in the delicious body of Seto Kaiba. Dear god, Marik gave a low, throaty laugh.

Who knew that man could be such a siren?

"How long?" was all that Marik said as Seto came to a sudden stop directly in front of him, his black trench coat flaring around him dramatically. The doorman's eyes invited the other to play the game that would lead them both happily to hell as a lecherous grin played about his lips.

"How long?" Seto repeated, his mind readily supplying the rest of the sentence: _how long have I waited for someone like you, how long did it stupidly take me to realize what I wanted, how long I believe I remember your cock to be_-

"How long are you going to wear those terribly restricting clothes, darlin'?" Marik finished with a raking glance from head to toe that send delicious shivers down Seto's spine.

"My penthouse has a clothes-free policy these days," Seto responded, one arm gesturing for the doorman to leave first.

"Oh really?" Marik rebutted simply.

While a number of baffled employees watched, Kaiba Corp.'s CEO bowed the doorman out through his own door while the latter curled an arm around Seto's waist and winked sassily at the backed-up line of people purposefully waiting to leave through that specific door. However, once the pair had walked through, no employee could find the courage to disturb their illustrious CEO, immediately finding excuses to leave through exits on the other side of the building.

"I do believe we've created a commotion, love," Marik remarked lightly, amused, but half-watching for the CEO's response. The doorman briefly contemplated the possibility that the other wasn't aware of the implications of their very public exit.

"Finally my employees get some entertainment," Seto rejoined without pause, halting them near the curb and finding himself quite pleased that he didn't give two shits about what his employees- or anyone for that matter- thought about him right then.

Seto turned his body to block Marik's way, his hands grabbing the doorman's hips possessively as he invited any protest with a devilish grin.

"Do you know…" Seto's voice drifted off as he raised one hand to brush the hair out of Marik's eyes, and in the blink of Marik's violet eyes, forgot the rest of what he'd been going to say. They regarded each other silently, appraising the other, relishing the difficulty of restraint in such a public place.

"I think," Seto murmured, leaning closer seductively. "I think I'm going to take all your clothes off and find out what makes you tick."

"Don't you mean 'take me apart', eh?" Marik rumbled jokingly, licking his lips in anticipation.

"No."

_Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo _

_Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo _

Just then, two fire trucks shot out of a side street and raced past the couple standing on the curb, the displaced air violently smacking the both of them a moment later.

Marik chuckled, finding amusement in the irritation in Seto's eyes, as if the trucks had purposefully ruined the mood to spite him. The doorman was about to reach over to plant one on the other's lips anyway, when-

_Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo __Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo _

_____Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo __Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo _  


Four more fire trucks raced past, again whipping air into their faces and spoiling the moment. Both Marik and Seto stared after them, perplexed. Who needed six fire trucks?

"Big fire?" Seto questioned, crossing his arms in front of him as his attention was momentarily diverted. As Marik silently observed how endearing Seto was when he was thinking, the other added, "Looks like they're headed towards the police station."

_Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo __Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo _

Three more trucks suddenly appeared and Seto exclaimed in interest, "_Nine_ trucks to the station?"

And speaking of the police station…

"Yuugi!" both Marik and Seto realized at the same time, though the latter was the only one who displayed an expression of worry on his face. Marik continued to look amused, one arm snaking forward to hook one of Seto's belt loops and drag him closer, determined to make some of the fantasies he'd had over the past two days into reality.

"Why don't you seem as concerned as you should be?" Seto halted the other by bracing both hands on Marik's muscular chest, which obligingly flexed under his palms in a very tantalizing way.

"Yuugi's a big boy, love," Marik rumbled into Seto's ear as he began kissing a light trail down from his ear lobe to his neck, decided to skip the formalities of finding a secluded place and remain on the curb. "He did a naughty thing last night at the bar and now he needs to be punished. He'll be fine- but you, darlin', are going to be anything but that once I finish doing naughty things to you."

Seto moaned quietly into Marik's neck, one hand curling into a fist against the doorman's uniform. He swallowed, "Much as I find him obnoxious, he is perhaps my only friend these days."

"And now you have me," Marik replied, his tongue darting out in a dance with Seto's ear that had him weak in the knees. They were beginning to attract more obvious stares from passerbys and Marik started to regret not finding a more private spot.

"Besides," he added to quell Seto's squirming, "he has Yami."

And they're both currently pissed as all hell with one another, he added silently, before adding half-jokingly, Mostly likely they continued their brawl inside the station and that's what the nine fire trucks are for.

Oh fuck.

Marik froze, swearing colorfully in two different languages.

"What?" Seto questioned, confused. He hooked his arms around the doorman's neck to lend support to his battered senses in the aftermath of Marik's torturous touch.

Continuing to swear with feeling, Marik slipped one arm around Seto's waist in support and began to shepherd him in the direction the fire trucks had gone.

"Actually," Seto halted him with a hand on the other's chest as he realized where they were headed. "If we're going to visit Yuugi in his place of punishment, there's no way a man of my status would be caught on foot.

"I don't know if you've noticed," A slight smirk on his lips, Seto raised a hand towards a car parked a way down the street. "But I tend to drive in style."

And with that, a gleaming black luxury limo pulled up next to them, the driver jumping out to open the back door.

"I wonder, love," Marik began, the gleam Seto enjoyed so much once again in his eye, inducing a sexy smile on his lips. "How long do you think the ride over is?"

"Never long enough," Seto replied with a husky laugh, his hand trailing along Marik's arm as he stepped over to the car. "But plenty to wet our appetites."

Seto caught Marik's eye then, and they shared a dirty thought with enough force that they both caught their breath in anticipation- and then both frowned.

Simultaneously, they threatened: "Yuugi better be worth this."


	13. Turn the Key, Lover Boy

_**13: Turn the Key, Lover Boy**_

* * *

"Yuugi, be _quiet_," Yami admonished yet again, shifting on the park bench to cover himself in the nearby oak's shadow. He was grateful that sunset had passed right before they'd needed to slip out of the police station. The delicate subject of a vampire in the sun was one he hadn't wanted to have to explain to Yuugi right then and there.

The human in question meanwhile was gleefully humming 'oh he's a jolly good fellow' and skipping around Yami's bench, ignorant to the world. The vampire worried that they were attracting unwanted attention, despite the fact that the only other visitors to the park, a couple out for a stroll, had left ten minutes ago.

But it didn't hurt to be careful, Yami justified.

"For the love of night, would you _please_ settle yourse-" Yami began again, only to be interrupted by Yuugi spinning to a stop in front of the vampire, a hand on either one of Yami's knees. A jolt went through the vampire at the contact, but before he had a chance to focus on it, Yuugi leaned forward and gave him a peck on the nose, sending another jolt down Yami's spine.

"Why _are_ you in such a good mood?" Yami asked, mystified. Surely Yuugi remembered that they'd just escaped from a very precarious situation.

"Becaaaaause," Yuugi drew out, swirling his tongue inside his mouth as he looked at Yami and then winked. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes danced across the vampire's features in delight. "I just _escaped_ the _law_. I can't believe I get to cross that off my bucket list!"

He started to raise himself, presumably to dance again, but Yami caught his arms, holding him in place. The vampire lifted one eyebrow in puzzlement. "What?"

Yuugi sighed at the restraint, disappointed for a moment, before suddenly shifting tactics and plopping himself down in Yami's lap. "Don't you know what a bucket list is, sir know-it-all?"

The vampire continued to look at him, his expression reluctantly communicating in the negative.

Yuugi cleared his throat and straightened his spine while still sitting in Yami's lap, assuming his best impression of an English school teacher, complete with a horribly nasal voice. ""It's a list of things you intend to do before you kick the bucket, young master-"

"Enough!" Yami cut him off, chuckling at the absurd thought of Yuugi actually teaching anyone anything. If anyone know anything about this human, it was that he was definitely a handful- and not suitable for children. Taking advantage of their position, Yami tightened his hold on Yuugi.

Before Yuugi had a chance to protest or attempt to get off the vampire's lap, Yami swooped in on his target with practiced ease and knocked Yuugi's senses off-kilter with his mouth.

_WHEEEEEEOOOOO WHEEEEEEEOOOOOOO WHEEEEEOOOOOO_

He was abruptly pulled back to reality as they heard the first fire truck racing in the direction of the police station, to be instantly followed by another. Both turned their heads to follow the sound of the alarms down the road on the other side of the trees.

When the truck passed, Yami turned to kiss Yuugi again and was annoyed to find the human utterly absorbed in the new phenomenon. Yami cursed his luck, unhappy with being denied a mouth to suckle on.

Then he too was caught up in the fire truck dispatch as truck after truck began sounding off in the direction of the police station.

Yuugi silently counted the trucks as they passed, and started giggling in exasperation after the ninth truck. "Now if only they'd respond to actual fires that way. Maybe they'd have a better rep in this damn city."

Yami looked at him in surprise, "What made you assume it was a false alarm?"

"It wasn't?" Yuugi glanced back at him, confused.

"Well," Yami smiled in amusement, "If it wasn't real, how would we have gotten out of the station in the confusion?"

"Magic?" Yuugi tried, still unclear as to what happened.

Yami explained to him that he'd communicated to Malik to set three rooms on fire in various parts of the building, flitting around so that no one could see the vampire slave. Fortunately, the station had had plenty of flammable paper lying around, making it an easy job for Malik to light one and throw it on top of a stack, instantly igniting everything in the room.

When the vampire finally finished his explanation with a smug sigh, he waited for Yuugi to respond with awe and adoration.

Yuugi stared at him, mouth open and the beginnings of an indignant remark forming on his lips.

"I- _what?"_ he finally managed, turning his body in the vampire's lap to stare at him directly. "I know what they say about assuming and all that…but I thought you cared about humans a little more than that. I mean- _How could you set them all on fire?_"

Without warning, Yami gave a loud snort and stood up, Yuugi still in his arms. "You are, without a doubt, the only one of your kind."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Yuugi retorted, wishing he was standing on his own so he could put his hands on his hips. Situations like this called for hip hands.

"It means," Yami answered, and then started laughing before he could continue. Yuugi gave an impatient huff.

"It _means_," Yami started again, "that no one could come to conclusions like you do. And in addition to that, no one has given me so much damn amusement as you have- and probably will continue to- for at least two or three hundred years."

"I still don't see what's so funny," Yuugi huffed again and crossed his arms, though the effect he'd been intending was lost due to the fact that he was still cradled in Yami's arms.

"Silly Yuugi," Yami crooned into Yuugi's ear, suddenly very, very close. "I made sure Malik only lit rooms devoid of people, far enough away not to harm anyone."

"But still," the human protested, though it was only on principal at this point. Yami's breath on his neck was making his body tingle in new and interesting ways, distracting him from what he'd been going to say. …Why were there sirens again?

"Mm?" Yami's voice hummed against his skin, spreading a fire along Yuugi's body that was slowly driving him crazy.

"I-" Yuugi forced himself to focus, though that was the moment he was distracted again, having opened his eyes and realized there was an oak branch shooting past his head, dangerously close- wait, what was he doing in a tree?

Blinking in confusion, Yuugi was about to ask Yami where he'd taken them when the vampire began tracing Yuugi's ear with his tongue, making him shiver in pleasure. Yuugi moaned shamelessly, feeling himself give in to Yami's menstrations.

That was the problem with these vampires; they were just too damn good at what they were doing.

One of Yami's hands suddenly appeared on Yuugi's thigh and began inching upward, leaving a trail of heat behind that was making Yuugi hate himself for wearing clothes that day at all.

When Yami's devious hand finally reached the straining bulge in his pants, Yuugi lost all remaining trace of focus.

"_Oh, fuck it_."

"_Mm?"_

"_Oooh, yes. I meant fuck_ _me_."

* * *

If Yami and Bakura were passable as humans at night – when drunken humans didn't have enough wits to notice the grace with which they walked, the power that exuded in the atmosphere like a dark halo, or the way their predatory gaze that evaluated everything that moved – then Malik was exactly the opposite.

His long, thin body was unnaturally fluid in its movements and eerily still otherwise, his hair floated on an unfelt wind around his head, and his violet eyes pierced the darkness with such brilliant hue that he seemed anything but natural. Malik was undoubtedly otherworldly, and his very presence screamed at humans to keep their distance.

Which is why, as Malik balanced on another branch of the tree and silently and without expression watched his master, Yuugi felt the hair on his arms prickle in apprehension and reluctantly broke away from Yami's endless kisses. He'd felt this way in the holding cell too, he remembered, but he'd been too agitated for other reasons to pay attention to it then.

Squinting, Yuugi glanced around in the darkness, wondering how much time had passed. A substantial amount, he decided, noticing that it had become totally dark.

"AH!" Yuugi yelped as he saw the other vampire, instinctively hiding his face in Yami's jacket, whose arms came around him protectively even as he wondered what the problem was. Then he craned his head behind him and saw Malik crouching on a branch, eyes glinting in the night much like a feline's.

"Yuugi, love," Yami murmured into the human's hair, reveling in the close contact. He was still feeling the high of indulging himself in Yuugi's mouth and body; the human's blood racing just underneath his skin completely overwhelmed the vampire's hunting senses both painfully and pleasurably. It was exhilarating. "Yuugi, it's just Malik."

A moment later, Yuugi extracted himself from the other's clothing and sighed. "Oh."

As Yami lifted one hand to straighten the collar of his wrinkled jacket, Yuugi nodded towards the other vampire, "You never explained what happened with him.

Yami was uncharacteristically silent as Yuugi watched him, "Why doesn't he talk?"

"Maybe it's best if you don't know," Yami hesitated, recognizing the secrecy that overlapped everything in his world- but wanting to tell Yuugi anything he wanted regardless. He lamented his weakened self-control. Come to think of it, why was it so hard to have _any_ kind of self-control around this one human?

"Something tells me," Yuugi interrupted his thoughts, brushing a stray lock of hair out of Yami's eyes in an unexpected display of affection, "that you need to get something off your chest. The thing with him, it's been bothering you, hasn't it?"

Yami sucked his breath in, suddenly feeling his immense age and responsibility as prince weigh him down, not giving him any options. There were things he shouldn't say, things he shouldn't involve a human with, things that he as prince was meant to deal with alone. That's just the way things had always been.

Yuugi grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together, and kissed the back of the vampire's hand lightly. A ghost of a kiss that made Yami exhale his big breath- and with it, all the inhibitions he'd been trying to implant in himself.

"You win," the vampire admitted with an indulgent smile that Yuugi didn't understand, but chose not to question in a rare show of maturity. He waited patiently for Yami to continue.

"Free will is not so free in my world," the vampire looked at him longingly, and Yuugi understood that Yami lusted at that moment not after his body, but his way of life. Yuugi marveled at the other's desire, even after existing for centuries in his current form- and seemingly benefiting from it, if his rank spoke to anything. "Free will is a gift bestowed on your body by a sated thirst for blood and by the ruling nomadic leaders of our kind."

"Leaders?" Yuugi prompted.

"'Leaders' only because they possess the power to obliterate anyone who opposes them," Yami answered; Yuugi pretended not to notice the slightest of trembles go through the vampire. "When the world was younger, your kind chose to live in the sun, and mine chose to live in the dark. The ones who made that decision and banished us to an eternal night, they are the leaders who make up The Council."

Yuugi gave a low whistle, trying to process what Yami had said. How old did that make those vampires? At least five thousand years? Six? How old were they talking here? And on that subject, how old was Yami again?

"I am over five thousand years old, if you remember," Yami answered Yuugi's unspoken question, reading it in his eyes. "I am near the age of those on The Council, that is true, but most are perhaps another one or two thousand years older."

Yuugi's jaw dropped; he shook his head, as if ridding himself of a thought. Then he grinned at Yami, hoping the other could see his expression in the dark. "I always knew I liked older men, but wow, did I just hit the jackpot."

"Indeed," Yami confirmed, drawing the human close for a moment in appreciation, though his mood did not change.

"So then," Yuug prompted, still trying to understand the big picture, "I mean, being from Egypt and all…do you remember who you were back then? Or do you forget all that when you, er, convert?"

"I was Pharaoh," Yami shrugged as if to brush aside the idea.

"_WHAT?_" Yuugi exclaimed, jerking upright in Yami's lap and shaking the tree they were sitting in. "I- You- But- Actually-…EXPLAIN."

"I wish it was as exciting a story as you imagine it to be," Yami responded, steadying Yuugi before he lost his balance. "As it turns out, I was handpicked to become one of the dark, and groomed all my life for the role.

"Everyone knew of what was to become of me _except_ for me. I was a Pharaoh. An arrogant, power-hungry, young Pharaoh who was eager to get on top- no matter who I had to kick out of the way."

Yami sighed, still feeling a slight twinge of bitterness even after all the centuries that had passed.

"I didn't even have the sense to wonder why everything I wanted was being given to me; why I was taught subjects that were beyond my age at the time – manipulation, how to start and end wars, torture techniques, information trafficking; why people bent over backwards to do my bidding in either abject terror - of the dark ones, I know now - or in smug amusement - because I would one day get my reckoning.

"I didn't suspect a thing the night the one to turn me came. All I remember of that night, in excruciating detail, is the pain."

Yami cut himself off then, feeling a little vulnerable.

"That's a cruel memory to have," Yuugi whispered after a minute, lifting one of his hands to gently brush the vampire's cheek before cupping it, pulling his face closer. "I see you blaming yourself. Don't. It's not your fault."

"What is my fault is using the same technique on Malik as the one that was used on me," Yami stared forlornly into the other's eyes. "The Council forced me to break vampiric code once they turned me; they needed to subjugate me and teach me that I could do nothing without their knowledge, without their approval.

"I made Malik do the same- because I didn't have the patience or the time or the focus at that moment to teach him of the way we live in this city. Vampiric code, for me, was the _easy way out_," Yami spit out the last three words with disgust.

A minute passed in silence, Yami silently counting each second and wishing he didn't have to feel so horrible about himself at a moment when he was getting what he wanted- more specifically, who he wanted.

"So you got lazy," Yuugi eventually spoke, his tone exasperated. Yami opened his mouth to contest the human's simple conclusion, but Yuugi put a finger against his lips.

"We all do that from time to time. It makes you…human," he finished with a wry grin. Yami rolled his eyes. "And so you did something to someone else that you know from personal experience sucks like shit. So what do you want me to do about it, spank you?"

Yami raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Yuugi conceded with a hungry look, "As much as I would actually enjoy that, I don't think it'll solve the problem- which _you_ claim is impossible to fix but I completely disagree."

Yami opened his mouth again to respond but Yuugi moved his hand to cover all of the vampire's mouth this time.

"You're fine and dandy now, aren't you? And don't give me any of that 'But I'm special' crap. You're a normal human be-…er, well, normal vampire. Just like everyone else. What worked on you should work on anyone!" Yuugi finished with a triumphant smile, feeling like a genius.

Yami reached out with his tongue at that moment and poked it between two of Yuugi's fingers, making the human let go with an exclamation. "Gross, Yami! You don't know where my hand's been!"

"I appreciate your help, little one," Yami responded, happy to have control of his mouth again. "But remembering how I was released from the bond would be the key to that idea- which I don't have right now. I can't remember anything from that period of enslavement."

"I'm not little!" Yuugi retorted without thinking. A moment later, he realized he'd hit a dead end.

"Goddamnit, Yami," Yuugi moaned, his meter of maturity rapidly falling for the night. "I was doing so well at being an awesome friend and all- why do you have to go and forget the essential bits? You're ruining all my hard work!"

The vampire snorted, bemused with Yuugi's tantrum. "I'm really glad you appreciate my dilemma."

"Well, why don't you just tell him his services aren't required? Just tell him he's released from servitude or something like that," Yuugi retorted, annoyed that his efforts weren't paying off. Being a genius was fucking hard! What did people want from him?

Yami blinked, falling into silence. Then Yuugi followed suit in surprise, giving the vampire a questioning look.

"You know," Yami cleared his throat in embarrassment, "I don't believe I've actually tried that."

"Well?" Yuugi asked pointedly, deciding he might as well champion some sort of action.

"I'm sure it's not that simple," Yami countered, trying to restore some semblance of his dignity.

"Why not?" Yuugi asked, genuinely curious.

For the first time in several decades, Yami was confronted with such sheer simplicity that he couldn't conjure up any argument to counter or discount it. He sputtered for another moment while Yuugi looked on, silently waiting.

"Why not indeed," Yami muttered eventually in defeat. Then he shifted Yuugi in his lap so that he could turn toward the vampire stationed behind him. "Malik, come."

The vampire slave obediently glided forward from his branch to rest lightly on theirs. Yuugi felt the hair at the nape of his neck prickle and frowned in annoyance, fidgeting for a moment in Yami's lap.

"I'm going to feel a right fool if this works," the vampire murmured, half to Yuugi, half to himself. Then he cleared his throat, "Malik, you have fulfilled your sentence of servitude."

Malik instantly snapped to attention on the branch, his entire body rigid, his eyes locked on the other vampire. As Yuugi watched wide-eyed, Malik's body began to levitate off the branch as if frozen in the air.

Was it actually working? Yami felt something tense inside him almost painfully, and swallowed hard.

"Your debt has been paid," Yami started to feel a strange heat radiating from the palms of his hands, and for a reason he didn't understand, raised them around Yuugi to point in the direction of the other vampire. "_Your shackles shall be removed_."

The words began to flow forth without his volition, a recitation that demanded to be spoken now that he had begun. The sleeping power he had awoken before to chain this vampire was once again stirring, radiating through his palms and connecting with the other.

"_The code_," Yami's voice seemed to echo in his own head; for that moment, the world fell away and all he could see and feel was this bond that connected him to the other vampire. He gritted his teeth, reaching for that unknown power inside of him. Hoping he was doing the right thing, he forcefully brought the power down to cut the connection between them, "_is now restored to you._"

Whatever had been suspending Malik in the air instantly disappeared, and he landed on the branch underneath him with a groan. As he began sliding down one side of the branch, still not fully aware of where he was, Yuugi darted forward and caught Malik by the shoulder before he fell.

The vampire grabbed Yuugi's outstretched hand in reflex, digging his claws into soft human skin. He drew pinpricks of blood across Yuugi's hand, but didn't raise his head, unaware of what was going on.

"FUCK!" Yuugi shouted in pain, attempting to retract his hand and finding it stuck. Before he had time to do anything else, Yami reached forward and quickly unhooked Yuugi's hand with a snarl at Malik.

"_Attend to yourself, Malik_," Yami growled, startling the other vampire to attention. Alarmed violet eyes flashed at him and reading the confusion and slight panic in them, Yami relented.

"Seems like you don't remember the events of the past few days, do you?"

"And I bet you feel like shit too," Yuugi muttered as he looked sideways at Malik, nursing his hand and trying to wrap it in his shirt to stop the bleeding, "judging by the way you look."

And it was true; Malik looked the worse for wear after Yami's revocation. His skin was unnaturally wrinkled for a vampire, and dark shadows surrounded his eyes, giving him a haggard appearance.

Malik blinked at the human and then shifted his gaze to the vampire prince, unsure how to react. He gave up a moment later when Yami's guarded look didn't change. He groaned, bringing both hands up to cover his head.

"'Shit' doesn't even begin to cover it," he finally spoke in a throaty whisper before dissolving into a coughing fit that ended with him groaning and massaging his temples with both hands. "I feel like I just awoke with the worst hangover of my life- and I haven't had one of those in centuries."

"Interesting," Yuugi commented, forgetting his half-formed grudge as his curiosity overtook him. "How bad did your hangovers use to be if you still remember them so many years later?"

"Words rather lack the ability to describe it," Malik began, wincing, before he remembered he was talking to a human and looked up. His tongue darted forward and he licked his lips, suddenly realizing he was ravenous.

"Try me," Yuugi goaded with a disbelieving look, not noticing the vampire's hungry gaze.

Yami had noticed, however, and jerked Yuugi away from Malik and back into his lap. The human started to protest but Yami cut him off with a hand over his mouth.

Malik shot a questioning look at the other vampire, conveying his awareness that Yami was violating the secrecy of their vampiric code- and his confusion that Yami was doing it so calmly. The splitting headache that was cutting through his head wasn't helping matters; nor was his undeniable thirst for blood.

Malik reached one hand forward, claws ended, and Yami's threatening rumble immediately pierced the air. The vampire prince's arms tightened around the human, his eyes flashing in anger.

Yuugi choked as the air went out of him, and bit out a muffled curse into Yami's hand.

"_Know your place_," Yami threatened, his sentence ending in a hiss.

In response, the other vampire bowed his head in deference, still uncertain of all except that he'd been denied a meal by a superior.

"I apologize," he swallowed painfully, his throat dry. "I wasn't certain that he was your meal. I won't make the same mistake again."

Yuugi tensed in his lap as Yami hissed again.

"He is no meal," Yami bit out. Then he took a small breath and forced himself to relax, remembering the circumstances. "But he does belong to me, and will always. Take care to remember that."

At that, Yuugi struggled out of Yami's grip and yanked the hand away from his mouth.

"Now listen here, vampire boy," Yuugi retorted, indignant. "We may have a thing going on, but I don't belong to anyone! I'm a self-made pretty boy, and you'd have to spoil me far more than you can imagine for you to be able to say you do."

Yami looked down at him, an amused expression on his face. His mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Noted, little one."

"I'm not little!" was the instant reply as Yuugi pouted, crossing his arms.

"You are in comparison to me," Yami chuckled, before remembering Malik was watching the exchange. The other vampire was mystified, still in excruciating pain, but he sat in silence, hoping for some explanation to lead him out of the dark.

"I can respect that," Malik answered quickly when Yami continued to watch him in silence.

"Good," Yami acknowledged, pleased, while Yuugi continued to pout in his lap. As the human muttered quietly to himself, Yami cleared his throat. "As to your situation, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies."

As Malik perched on the branch in bewilderment, Yami regretfully explained what had happened. When he had brought the other vampire up to speed, Malik coughed in embarrassment.

"I'm as much at fault as you are, Your Majesty," Malik began, spreading his hands in his own apology. "My ways were without tact, and I was blinded by my own emotions- in all respects."

"Please, no titles," Yami implored. "You should at least remember your encounter with Bakura, and I'm certain he expressed the same sentiment."

"Indeed," Malik answered with a slight bow of his head- which caused him to wince again in pain as his headache and thirst colliding into one massive throb through his head. He swayed for a moment on the branch, uncertain of his balance.

"You are well enough informed," Yami noticed the pain flashing across the other vampire's face and remembered that without Yami to sustain him through their bond of servitude, Malik was severely depleted. Yami concluded their exchange. "Once you have feed, you are invited to our nest. You are welcome to seek me out for direction- if you don't run across Bakura first."

"Speaking of which," Yami realized then that he hadn't been in touch with his second-in-command for quite some time, and hadn't parted with him on the best of terms anyway, "I should get in touch with him myself."

With a nod, Malik disappeared from the tree and left Yuugi blinking rapidly to clear his vision of the after-image. Shaking his head a few times, Yuugi looked up at the vampire prince in askance. "What now, 'your majesty'?"

"Now I punish you for your insolence," Yami grinned, and dropped down from the tree to the ground below, the human still in his arms. Yuugi yelped in surprise, but before he could complain that Yami had done that on purpose to scare him, the vampire set him down on his own feet.

Legs weak with disuse, Yuugi couldn't find the strength to think up a witty remark and was grateful when Yami linked their arms, supporting him as they walked out of the park.

"God, what time is it anyway?" Yuugi asked, noticing the complete absence of people on the streets. Granted, no one lived in the financial district anyway- especially so close to the police station- but it still felt odd to be walking around in such an empty neighbourhood.

Yuugi was about to comment on the lack of cars too, when they noticed a sleek, black limousine parked next to the curb in front of them, engine idling.

"Is that…? Seto's?" Yuugi murmured, puzzled to see something so out of place. The next moment, he realized the car was rocking steadily from side to side.

"Okay, now I know I'm seeing things," he concluded. Yami rumbled a laugh, and tightened his arm on Yuugi's, drawing him close.

"Let's go see, shall we?" he whispered in Yuugi's ear, causing him to shiver in delight. Yami's eyes twinkled in mirth as he said cryptically, "I think my predictions are finally coming to fruition."

"Oh?" Yuugi asked as he followed, but Yami's attention was on the inhabitants of the car.

When they were about three feet away, Yuugi's ears picked up on what Yami's had immediately. From inside the car, he could now clearly hear moaning.

Among other things.

"_Oh- oh- yes- yes- ye- FUCK- OH- OH- I'M- CO- OHMYGOD- MARIK- MARIK- MARIK-_"

Seto's voice rose to a crescendo until his words became indecipherable in his screams of pleasure. The car began to rock even harder until Yuugi could swear it was about to overturn, it was shuddering so violently. Who would've guessed?

His eyes wide in shock, Yuugi glanced at Yami to see him shaking with silent laughter.

"You knew this was coming?" Yuugi whispered hoarsely as he put the pieces together, though there was no need for his discretion. It was clear that Seto was blissfully oblivious to the outside world inside his pleasure sedan. Yami could only nod as he laughed, his smugness permeating the air.

"Ever since the bar that first night!" he finally choked out, his eyes dancing.

Yuugi watched him for a moment before an answering grin broke out on his face and he giggled, "You sly vampire, you."

Said vampire shrugged in false modesty and gestured to the curb in front of the car. Yuugi accepted the invitation by sticking his tongue out as he walked past Yami, who slapped his ass lightly in response.

They tried to have their own makeout session while they waiting for the passengers in the limo to conclude, but realized after a minute that it was useless. They were both laughing too much, distracted by the spectacle they were sitting next to.

They sat there for perhaps another ten minutes as the car continued to rock, slowly steadying until finally the animalistic noises from inside ceased.

As Yami gazed at things in the night only he could see and Yuugi traced sensual spirals into the vampire's hand and tried to break his cool, the sunroof of the limo slid open. Marik popped out first, shirtless, his chest gleaning with sweat, and the biggest shit-eating grin on his face that Yuugi had ever seen.

Seto pulled himself out a moment later, also shirtless and gleaning with sweat, his expression dazed and exhilarated in a very uncharacteristic display. He turned to watch his partner as Marik lazily licked a trail up his left shoulder in a display of possession. Seto let out a small moan before sagging against the doorman, who put an arm around him for support.

Marik turned toward the grinning couple sitting on the curb and grinned back, his expression mischievous.

"Glad you could finally make it, loves," he purred, his voice reminiscent of a sated cat.

"Need a ride?"

* * *

Note: I know I made Yami's age three thousand in a previous chapter, but I've decided now he's five thousand because it makes more sense. Shhh. This is a rough draft, people. Don't be harsh.

In other news, I wrote another chapter without months going by first. I feel awesome. Thank you to those who reviewed! Now PLEASE REVIEW SOME MORE SO I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WELL, LADS. And ladies. And- Oh fuck it, we all wanna be lads. And now look! Yuugi's experienced everything I said he would in the blurb for this story. Well. Almost.


	14. The Fairy and the Devil Monarchy

_**14: The Fairy and the Devil Monarchy**_

* * *

"You're a regular Harry Houdini," Marik remarked in amusement, his eyes flashing with each passing streetlight as Seto's limo carried the four of them in the direction of his apartment.

In an uncharacteristic display of generosity - or stupefying euphoria from some dangerously good sex, Yuugi concluded - Seto had volunteered his penthouse for their gathering. Yuugi had immediately accepted, seizing the never-frequent-enough chance to enjoy his wealthy friend's pad.

As they rode, Seto had demanded an explanation for how they had managed to escape the police station, and though Yami obliged them with an improvised story devoid of supernatural phenomena, neither one looked satisfied. It didn't help that Seto continued to stare disapprovingly at Yuugi in hopes of wiping off the permanent smug grin plastered across his face. Meanwhile, Marik gazed at Yami across the limo with an indulgent smile, his expression communicating that he also thought otherwise.

"Indeed," Yami agreed, looking down at the other half of his alleged arsonist duo. Yuugi winked at the vampire in response, struggling to keep his grin from breaking into nervous laughter. His let his eyes trace over Yami's features, perfectly framed as they were against the city's glittering backdrop through the window.

"Why am I not surprised," Seto broke Yuugi's concentration, his expression darkening, "that you are the source of all this trouble?"

"What can I say?" Yuugi shrugged casually in response, "I'm the troublemaker your mother always warned you about. I want what I want, and if I want to leave the damn po-po in the dust-"

He broke off mid-sentence as he realized the glittering lights dancing across the buildings they passed, growing brighter and more distinct, were not in fact the pretty reflection he had at first assumed. They were actually the flames of quite a large fire.

Recognizing the surroundings outside their vehicle, Yuugi's jaw dropped in shock. And though the vampire beside him also turned to glance out the window, both Marik and Seto continued to stare at the other couple, unsurprised.

"Yami..." Yuugi started, his voice rising in apprehension as he realized what the response was probably going to be. "Just how large exactly was the fire that Malik started?"

"Evidently," Yami answered with a subtle hint of awe, "very damn large."

"Now that we're all on the same page," Seto interrupted, his impatience getting the better of him. "Let's start off with some simple questions, shall we?"

As Yuugi turned back, Seto crossed his arms and fixed a dark look at the smaller man, who was at this moment looking anywhere else but the impending doom sitting across from him. Watching the inevitable explosion build and build, Marik swallowed the chuckle that was threatening to escape, simultaneously amused and turned on as he was by his infuriated lover.

"Question number one: Who the hell is this MALIK?" Seto's voice rose as he spoke. "Number two: WHY is he suddenly HELPING you ESCAPE?"

Yuugi's eyes focused on a small piece of white lint on the floor of their limo as he internally panicked.

"AND THREE," Seto continued. "WHY THE FUCK DID HE START A FUCKING FIRE RIGHT NEXT TO MY FUCKING BUILDING?"

"Some very good questions," Yuugi told the lint as sincerely as he could.

If he himself wasn't supposed to know about Yami's vampire status, what was he supposed to do about Seto and Marik knowing? Oh shit, Yami wasn't going to have to kill them like those gangsters do in the movies, right? Goddamnit, there was way too much conflict of interest in this scenario. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Yuugi didn't know much but he definitely knew he didn't want to go into the witness protection program or move to another city where the nightlife wasn't as good and the boss wasn't as lenient-

"MY BUILDING IS NOT FUCKING FIRE-PROOF, YOU IMBECILE!" Seto exploded, pointing out the window as they passed the usually pristine Kaiba Corp. headquarters, now quite a hellish sight of orange and yellow. The first floor was almost completely engulfed in flames; so much so that Yuugi could barely see the actual building beyond them. Before the limo turned the corner, they saw firemen repel down the side of the building and smash through the windows, dragging long grey, heavy-duty hoses in after them.

"Shit," Yuugi swore and shot a look at Yami, whose features struggled to remain blank as his own internal exasperation grew. Honestly, the trouble that foreign vampire had given him.

"YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS SHIT? THE STATE OF MY BEAUTIFUL HEADQUARTERS!" Seto rejoined. Though he was more than a little peeved with the man, he'd long ago come to terms with the disasters that seemed to trail Yuugi.

In fact, Seto had purchased fire insurance many years ago for this very reason. Already, he was beginning to mentally fill out the scathing report he was going to be filing with his insurance. Those expensive fuckers were going to pay out the ass to refurbish the property or so help him-

"I didn't do it MYSELF, Seto!" Yuugi argued helplessly, throwing his hands in the air. "What do you want me to do about it now, piss the fire out?"

When Seto just angrily raised a fist in response, Marik moved to envelope the surprised man in an embrace and pinned his arms to his sides. Sensing his death was near, Yuugi grabbed Yami's jacket and tried to shake the immovable vampire.

"Yami, defend me here!" he pleaded, suddenly feeling unfairly put-upon. "I am NOT taking the heat for your vampire friend! It was YOUR brilliant plan!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Yuugi realized what he'd said and bit his tongue belatedly. But Yami's stoic expression never left his face and following his lead, Yuugi quickly adopted a matching one. Seto glared at the both of them.

"Vampire? Plan?" Seto questioned suspiciously. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Silence fell in the limo as no one immediately responded, all eyes shifting from one face to another as they unexpected found themselves playing poker. Seto glared expectantly at Yuugi before switching to Yami and then back again; Marik continued to hold his patient gaze on the vampire's blank face; and Yuugi focused like never before on that little piece of floor lint.

"Ah, seems like Bakura was right after all."

Marik chuckled a minute later as Seto turned to look at him in question and Yuugi frowned in confusion. Marik cleared his throat and bowed his head in Yami's direction, "...Your Majesty."

"Please, no titles," Yami finally cracked an appreciative smirk, reaching over to remove Yuugi's still-clenched fist from his jacket before curling his arm around the confused human and bringing him closer. "Seems that my knight was aware of my situation this entire time."

"Though judging by his silence, he's somewhat upset with me," Yami frowned absentmindedly. Sighing, he ruffled Yuugi's hair, "Understandably so. How shall I make it up to Bakura, Yuugi?"

"Buy him some goddamn flowers and tell him to stop being a pussy," Yuugi pouted as his bangs fell into his eyes but made no effort to fix it, comfortably nestled as he was.

"You mean Yuugi's friend Bakura?" Seto questioned the cryptic passengers in his limo, growing more irritated when no one answered him. "What the hell is going on?"

It was obviously that the young CEO did not enjoy being ignored, and tolerated being ignorant even less.

"I'll ask again one more time: What. Is. Going. On?" Seto bit out slowly, feeling an unpleasant distance between him and the other men. Somehow he was being taken for a fool, he observed. How foolish he had been to trust so quickly and easily, considering the bad company Yuugi had been known to keep!

"Come now, love," Marik answered, returning his warm gaze to Seto's carefully guarded features and reaching out to snag the other man's hand before Seto could pull away. Before Seto could form a protest, Marik pulled him forward into his lap and used his free hand to pull Seto's mouth in for a quick kiss. "Not gonna hold my hobby against me before I even have a chance to explain, are ya?"

Seto's only response was a snort to accompany the glare he directed at Marik, seeing as his lips were still tingling from the kiss and were therefore, considerably untrustworthy. What kind of aphrodisiac did this man have in his saliva anyway? Seto could already feel a slow desire for the other man stirring again, despite his self control.

"Hmm?" Marik seemed to sense this effect and smiled at Seto, dragging him in for another kiss. However, this one was slow, and commanding, and so deep that Seto felt even his toes tingle this time. And though it took an eternity for the sensations of that kiss to fade away, Seto knew it had only been a moment.

"Well." Eyes still closed in fear that he would give away the strength of his yearning, Seto sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't be fair."

Yuugi whistled in appreciation from the other side of the limo. Yami had been unable to resist the adorably perplexed look the human had given him, and lowering his lips to Yuugi's ear, he had whispered the truth about Marik's past activities.

"Couldn't be bothered to ever mention that you were into all this supernatural shit too, Marik?" Yuugi asked, feeling a little indignant. "Something short and to the point, like 'Hey Yuugi, I dabble with the monsters under your bed when I'm bored', would've been nice."

"Can't say there was ever a reason to," Marik replied, his eyes twinkling with mirth as he felt Seto's eyes bore into him in curiosity. Marik nodded toward Yami, "Besides, our prince here prefers we keep a low profile."

"Fair," Yuugi sighed as he accepted Yami's half-amused, half-apologetic expression. Then he snorted. "I guess here's why I felt so comfortable with you lot to begin with; I've been conditioned to it after all these years- Hey!

"Goddamnit, you guys," he suddenly huffed in realization. "You'd think one of you could've mentioned something to me before, seeing as I was around you lot ALL THE TIME. I mean, come on! Really?"

When neither man responded except to smirk knowingly at him, Yuugi opened his mouth to respond, but then saw Seto looking from one face to another and decided to be generous. "So I know how you guys love your secrecy and all that, but can you fill in the blanks for us humans? The dark is not a place I enjoy being unless I'm naked and in sexy company."

"Then you'll be happy to know that our destination is a clothes-free zone," Marik replied happily while Seto flashed a smirk, pleased that the other man had remembered the quip from before- though it still didn't make up for the things he didn't know.

"Tell me about this 'supernatural' business," Seto ordered, not yet willing to let Marik off the hook for lying to him, even if it was by omission. But despite his best intentions, he could already feel his desire for the other man returning, a heavy heat unfurling in his groin.

"Give us a minute to get settled at your place, darlin'," Marik promised him, "and I'll tell you everything."

* * *

In short order, the four of them had taken up space in Seto's dining room where Seto and Yuugi sat at a stunningly polished oak table with their tea, while Marik and Yami leaned against two corners of the opposite wall, arms crossed.

The relatively large room was rather simply decorated, with one wall sporting a floor-to-ceiling china cabinet while the opposite composed a massive window that opened up into a beautiful rooftop terrace. Above the table in the center of the room hung an impressive chandelier with faux candles, dimmed for their late night meeting. Their glow reflected off the inlayed dark wood floor, which was swept immaculately clean.

"So let me get this straight," Seto interrupted irritably. "Yami is the vampire prince of vampires, Bakura is his vampire muscle, Malik is a foreign vampire, Marik likes to trade with vampires, and the reason that all of this vampire nonsense started in the first place is because Yuugi didn't want to go quietly in the night when you vampires tried to kill him. Do I have it right so far?"

"Say 'vampire' again," Yuugi replied sarcastically, slowly stirring the spoon in his teacup. "How are you so calm about all this anyway?"

"Bite me," Seto retorted dismissively. "I've had crazier days at work."

"Oh really?" Yuugi fished, hoping for a story. He found himself disappointed however when the CEO chose to take a swig of his own tea instead before continuing.

"Due to a melodramatic misunderstanding on several levels, Yuugi and Yami mistakenly parted ways, Malik was mistakenly thrust into undignified servitude, Bakura was mistakenly left uninformed, and as a result, half of the city is now mistakenly ablaze, including my innocent building. Correct?"

"Say 'mistakenly' again," Yuugi taunted, sticking his tongue out in response to Seto's glare.

"Well?" Seto prompted the men until Marik, amused, nodded. "And coming off one of the most ridiculous stories of drama, doubt, and destruction I've ever heard, your plan is to...what, keep us as love pets and just live happily ever after?"

"Why not?" Yuugi protested, dropping his spoon into the cup with a rattle as he pointed a finger at Seto. "You can judge all you like, but I'm rather enjoying my new vampire fetish, thank you very much."

"Because, you idiot," Seto sighed in exasperation, massaging his temple with one hand, "the number of unanswered questions in this mess is too large to just ignore forever."

He turned to the other men and leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Considering the extensive tabs I keep on my own city, I'm not all that surprised that vampires actually exist. I would actually venture to say, Yami, that you and I have even worked together before."

"This just gets better," Yuugi said to himself, glancing at Marik, who looked happily entertained in his corner of the room. "First vampires, now The Shady Adventures of Kaiba Corp. What's next?"

"Of course," Seto chose to ignore Yuugi's petulance, "I was led to believe that my dealings at the time were with our city's enigmatic mob boss, who was strangely most cooperative in ridding us of some criminal nuisance. That was you, I presume?"

"Correct." In his corner, Yami raised one side of his mouth in a smile and inclined his head. "Yours truly."

"Well how about that, I have a mobster boyfriend," Yuugi murmured into his tea with a low chuckle. "To think, my grandfather would be so proud."

Yami's smile twitched into a frown at that but before he could say something, Seto continued.

"Furthermore, I'm more than happy to acknowledge that your problem with Malik is none of my business, as long as I have reassurance that no more killings will happen in this city." When he saw Yuugi's questioning look, Seto added, "I may not be politically involved here, but I'm still rather attached to the well-being of my city. Call it part of my possessive streak."

"Cute," Yuugi commented casually, taking a sip. "Anything else you wanna ask, future mayor?"

"Yes," Seto answered and looked at Yami. "There's something I'm unclear about. If your social etiquette here forbids from killing humans, why is it that you attacked Yuugi in the first place?"

A witty quip about vampire social faux-pas half-formed on his tongue, Yuugi's mind dragged to a halt. He also turned to look at the vampire. "Good fucking question."

While Yuugi waited for Yami to formulate a response, Seto chose that moment to look at the other standing man. His eyes caught Marik's as the other widened his smile. "Such a brilliant thing you are."

"How do you think I became CEO of my father's company so young?" Seto raised an eyebrow in challenge before something else came to him. "You've certainly been enjoying watching me and my reactions all night; you knew I'd figure it out."

"Sooner or later, love," Marik replied. "S'why I'm so drawn to you, after all."

A faint smile on his lips, Seto vowed to make Marik divulge a lengthy explanation about his trading business before turning his attention back to Yami.

"All you need to know is that I was performing what is required of me as prince," the vampire replied calmly. When Yuugi continued to look at him suspiciously, he added, "I apologize, but there are some things that are not for humans."

"Oh yes, us lowly humans," Yuugi rolled his eyes, reaching for the teapot next to Seto. "Just remember that this lowly human managed to escape your deadly grasp once upon a time."

"Speaking of which, is that even normal?" He looked back at Yami, who frowned as he searched for a way to phrase his answer without revealing anything. Yuugi glanced down as he poured his tea. "Not the falling off a skyscraper part; that was my bad. I mean, has anyone else ever escaped that nasty paralysis of yours?"

"Well," Yami struggled, and then settled for, "No. They haven't."

"Oh," Yuugi looked up and blinked in surprise. For a minute, he hid behind his teacup, realizing that everyone else was waiting for him to break the silence. "I guess I always knew I was fucking special."

"Indeed you are," Marik was the next to speak, an amused twinkle in his eye. "Bet that certainly busted Yami's balls. I'm surprised his pride even allowed you to live."

"You mean other people usually die? ...After they get all their blood sucked out?" Yuugi asked outright, feeling a small thrill of fear race through his body. Stubbornly, he resisted reacting to it. "Well, dying definitely wasn't the ending to the night I pictured."

"You're still nice and juicy, aren't ya?" Marik pointed out. "Relax, love. I'm sure our prince here derives much more pleasure out of your body than your blood. Though apparently you pose some difficulties for the poor man."

"Screw that, now I know you've been lying to me, Yami," Yuugi countered, crossing his arms. He looked at the vampire's motionless form against the wall with a frown. "And here I thought falling off that skyscraper was me just being clumsy. You're not just waiting to get me alone to finish me off, are you?"

"Don't be melodramatic," Seto scolded with a yawn, feeling his energy falling rapidly. How late was it at this point? He predicted himself sleeping far too long into the day already. "I assume Marik is here to share some wisdom with Yami about how to not eat you; Bakura wouldn't have broken the holy secrecy to tell him otherwise. Though for your own good, I think he probably should."

"Very funny."

With that, Seto pushed back from the table and stood, Marik's arm snaking around his waist. "However, I'm making an executive decision and pushing this heart-to-heart to tomorrow. I'm exhausted."

"Unfortunately, this vamp might disappear before morning," Yuugi drawled, remembering his earlier experience. Behind him, Yami cleared his throat.

"If I have to leave, I will be back," he told Yuugi, who pouted in response. "You only have to wait until the darkness returns."

Behind them, the other two men left the room, Seto's intent to sleep all but believable if it wasn't for Marik's hand resting possessively on his ass.

"You knew where the spare rooms are," Seto called back to them before they heard the sound of his bedroom door closing.

Yuugi then turned to Yami, seeing his expectant expression, hope flaring in the vampire's eyes that this wasn't the end of their budding relationship. So what if they had leveled a good chunk of the city trying to figure out how to understand one another, his eyes said to the human, surely that wasn't a reason to stop trying now, was it?

The human swallowed and then cleared his throat, pushing back his chair to stand up and face the motionless vampire only a few paces aware.

Or was it?

"Promise me you won't suck me dry tonight," Yuugi finally said, mind made up. He put one hand on his hip. "And I'll blow you so hard, you'll swear I was a vamp too."

Both eyebrows shooting straight up, the vampire spread his arms invitingly and the human ran eagerly into them.

* * *

"Tell me about them," murmured Seto sleepily, his nose pressed to Marik's naked chest as it rose and fell with his breathing. Both of them sprawled across the bed, only partially covered in black satin sheets as the first morning light peeked through the crack in Seto's heavy dark curtains. "Tell me what you trade."

"The vampires, you mean?" Marik replied, his voice like a purr that would have otherwise stroked Seto into a sexual frenzy if they hadn't just finished bringing each other to incredible orgasm. But even as he thought that, Seto felt a faint thrill go through him again and groaned very softly. "There isn't that much to tell, love."

"Try," Seto prompted quietly. He shivered as he felt Marik's warm hand on his back, massaging gentle circles.

"I like old things," Marik finally replied, tucking his other arm under his head. He couldn't deny that he felt completely at peace at that moment. "Luckily for me, the vampires like my collection."

"Where do you get them from?" Seto wondered, his sleep-addled mind picturing the doorman ridiculously brandishing a sword at dragons guarding an antique shop. He exhaled loudly as Marik's fingers found a particularly large knot.

"All sorts of places," Marik responded with a smile. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't spend all day as your doorman."

"Blasphemy," Seto yawned. "You're always there when I come in and when I go home. There's a good twelve hours between those times."

"That says more about your work dependency than anything else," Marik tsked. "But more to the point, who says I stay at the door anytime other than when you're there?"

"Where else would you go? Physically impossible to get too far," Seto scoffed half-heartedly. "Why appear when I'm there at all then?"

"I should think it's obvious," Marik countered, tracing one finger down the other man's spine until he shivered endearingly. "I've had my eye on you for quite a while."

Seto's breath caught as those words sank in, though he didn't dare lift his head to look at Marik. How was he supposed to react to such a declaration? After all, Seto had just barely begun to understand his own inescapable attraction to the man. He cleared his throat softly, unable to make his tired brain come up with a better response. "Oh."

Marik chuckled quietly, "And physics flies right out the window with some of the artifacts I've found. You'd be surprised how far I can go when time and space are not an issue."

Seto silently thanked Marik for not pushing him further. He just needed time, he thought. Maybe he could borrow that time-bending artifact, he wondered sleepily. And making plans to ask for it later, Seto drifted off to sleep.

Above him, Marik stroked his head for a while before he too dozed off, a smile on his lips.

* * *

Many, many miles away on the opposite edge of the city, a well-fed but worn Malik stood in front of Bakura, slightly uncomfortable but silent as the native vampire circled him slowly in examination. The both of them stood in a wide wood-paneled hallway, empty except for a vampire on guard duty at the other end of a long, dark red carpet next to the front door.

"Well, well," Bakura clapped his hands together in appreciation, visibly impressed. "I wonder how he figured out how to get you back to your old self."

Malik had found his way to what seemed like the vampire nest by smell alone. Upon arriving at the gates of a well-kept, imposing mansion on the outskirts of the city, he'd been uncertain of how to proceed until the iron gates opened of their own accord. An entire expanse of pastel stone and french architecture before him, Malik had been taken aback by the elaborate and decidedly human handiwork and froze until the front door opened as well.

Recognizing Bakura, he'd eagerly darted inside to escape the oncoming dawn pressing in around him and obligingly explained all that he could about the events up to that point.

"Like I said, I have no idea," Malik responded apologetically before remembering the instructions he'd been given. "The prince commanded me to come here once I was finished feeding. I assume we are to resolve the problem I petitioned you about?"

"You assume correctly," Bakura agreed with a nod. "Though I wish he had told you how to find a closer entrance. But I suppose it couldn't be helped."

"Closer entrance to what, may I ask?" Malik asked, confused. Around him, he detected the faint presence of other vampires, but it was muffled somehow, as if from a distance.

"'Fraid this is the only topside entrance to our nest. In fact, it's probably why you sniffed us out at all," Bakura replied, seeing the other's puzzled expression only deepen. "You see, my blood brother, our prince is very ambitious. He works us to the bone when he has a vision, though we all do benefit from its fruition."

As he spoke, Bakura shepherded Malik into a service elevator the size of a small truck; it closed behind them with a snap. Being vampires with exceptional nocturnal vision, they rode down in pitch darkness.

"One such ambitious vision," Bakura continued, pressing the only button on the wall while Malik looked on in rapt attention, "was the construction of a sub-city to what you see up top."

"In other words, an underground city in which us dark folk could live in peace," Bakura then touched his hand to a panel on the wall, a pale white light flashing as it scanned his palm. "Think of it as a sanctuary from all our conflicts with those up there in the light."

"You mean it actually exists?" Malik breathed, his wide-eyed expression giving away his awe. He'd heard whispers from traveling vampires in his own city, but the real thing? "It's actually possible?"

"You bet your ass, it is," Bakura smirked, pleased with the other's reaction. Yami's plan may have been ambitious, but if anyone could create such a thing, it would've been him. And so many years ago, he had- and with style.

The elevator pinged as they reached their destination and the doors opened with a gust of wind.

"After you, Malik. Welcome to Second Haven."

* * *

Note: Well, I'm back from the dead, as usual. :D I'm determined to see this fic through until the end damnit! As always, I invite you, dear readers, to guess about the meaning behind the chapter name in a review. Send some love my way and I'll send you some back :3 And maybe a new chapter.


	15. Weightless in Frost's Rewind

_**15: Weightless in Frost's Rewind**_

* * *

Malik squinted as the wind blew in his face and stepped out of the elevator, Bakura on his heels. Though it was relatively dark around them, the vampire sensed more light than he had on the ride down and adjusted his eyesight slightly.

Then he promptly blinked in confusion as vast, vertical walls of stone and dirt materialized on either side of them. Imbedded in both walls were thick iron support beams that he guessed belonged to the mansion above them; apparently _very_ far above them, he realized. And now, the only direction they could move was forward down a long hallway of rock, which he saw was the source of the wind tunnel.

Malik turned to the other vampire with a question on his tongue but Bakura just flashed him a smile and swept past. He called back to the newcomer holding his hair, "Easier to show you than stand here chit-chatting."

They walked in silence for a while, Bakura whistling in front as he led the way through twist after twist in their rock crevice. Malik knew that if he ever had to return to the elevator on his own, he wouldn't be able to find his way back even by smell; the wind racing past them was carrying it all away.

"Let's kick it up a notch, shall we?" Bakura suddenly turned to him with a wink. Before Malik could process what he meant, the mischievous vampire broke into a run around the next corner. Not sparing time to think, Malik ran after him, using one hand to push off the wall.

Their run quickly escalated into a flit until they became blurs, racing through this deep crack in the earth, weaving around corners and back again. In the dark, their pupils dilated to drink up all light, both vampires' eyes turning completely black.

Up and down. Left, right, right, left. Up and down. They ran, the ground beneath them writhing steadily downward despite all the turns. Malik's mouth was split open in an exhilarating grin, his canines exposed; ahead, he could hear Bakura's laughter vibrating off the walls and echoing into the tunnel behind them.

Without warning, the walls ended.

They jolted to a halt an instant before the cliff, a feline grace in their steadying movements. The foreign vampire's eyes darted everywhere, trying to memorize every detail about this mystery place. As the air they had displaced caught up to them, Malik's ears picked up the sounds of life he had been expecting so many miles of rock and dirt back.

Then he saw the glowing city before him and dropped his jaw.

"I didn't expect you to keep up," Bakura chuckled beside him, clapping his shoulder. "Consider me pleasantly surprised."

Malik shot him a look, uncertain how to respond. Briefly he wondered if Bakura was flirting with him, his gaze returning to the view.

Below them stretched a vast cavern in all directions, impossible to see the edges even with his enhanced sight. Below their cliff was a steep drop maybe seventy or eighty feet.

In the center of the expanse - a mile away, he judged - stood a lone city of white towers that seemed to resemble the human city he'd seen above except for one key thing: the physical walls of these white buildings actually glowed, giving off a range of hues from blue to red to gold depending on the location. He noted that it was a nice contrast to the otherwise dark surroundings; somehow, the cavern seemed fixed as if in permanent dusk, only moments away from complete night.

He couldn't imagine how that had been done. Not knowing what else to do, Marik just raised his eyebrows in appreciation.

In between these buildings were white cobbled streets on which he could make out just barely drifting figures; Malik noted the differences between themwith mixed emotions. It was somewhat disconcerting to see that even down in the safety of a human-free haven, most of the creatures were still wearing human clothing.

He frowned. Expensive, fashionable human clothing.

"This is unbelievable," Malik told Bakura. "How big is it?"

"Oh, several miles in all directions," Bakura replied nonchalantly, brushing off some dust from his jacket. "And that's not even including what's below this level."

"Impossible," Malik denied, unable to understand how it had been built. "How did you even manage all of this?"

"Ah, the perks of being such an old being," Bakura grinned, rubbing the other vampire's shoulder to calm him. "I'm sure you've realized that the longer you exist as one of our kind, the more power your body naturally accumulates."

"But even with several thousand years' worth, there's still not enough time for one or even a group of Da'kana to build this," Malik protested, shaking his head. "The sheer size alone of this cavern, the city-"

"Then you don't know, do you?" Bakura interrupted, guessing that Malik hadn't realized why his mishap with Yami had been so special. "Or at least, you haven't sensed it yet."

"Sensed what?" was the blank response.

"I'm sure you'd have figured it out yourself shortly," Bakura replied reassuringly, one hand sliding down Malik's back to push him gently in the direction of the long wrought iron staircase on the left-most edge of the cliff. It led down into the darkness below. "Let's just say that inside our prince is a sleeping power of sorts."

"Sleeping power?" the foreign vampire asked, gingerly clasping the delicate banister as he glided down.

"You've met a tamer version of it already, if you recall," Bakura prompted and watched Malik wince as he was reminded of his far-too-recent bondage. "It was a parting gift from The Council several millennia ago; sort of like a graduation present."

"I was not aware that The Council took such close interest in any turned vampire," Malik maintained a steady voice though inside his mind was churning upon hearing this news. In all of his experience, no one had ever had such extended dealings with The Council and lived afterward, much less survived and _thrived_.

"Ah, but you see, The Council turned him themselves," corrected Bakura and flashed the other vampire a dazzling smile as he stopped and turned back, an expression of shock on his face. "And trained him."

"He's that old?" Malik froze, a note of panic in his voice.

"So am I, buttercup," Bakura added playfully, thoroughly amused at the sheer terror that passed across Malik's face before he struggled to hide it. "But no need to worry, we play nice."

"Then you also have this power?" Malik cleared his throat roughly and moved to descend again at Bakura's prompting. Oh what kind of powerful beings had he upset in this godforsaken city? Of all the places to assume he could move into…

"Nah, I'm more of a failed experiment," Bakura snorted. When Malik jumped in surprise at the sound, Bakura grabbed and steadied the skittish vampire with a chuckle. "I've too much of a rebellious spirit; skipped out before my own training even began.

Malik didn't know how to respond to that, so they descended in silence for a time, gliding steadily like ghosts down the staircase. His eyes traced their dim surroundings, using his enhanced eyesight to its fullest.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Malik stopped again, glancing back up to where they'd come from. He could see now that the cliff they'd been standing on was the only break in an otherwise smooth, sheer wall of rock; and it was huge. They were truly deep underground by this point, he guessed, deeper even than the city sewers. No human would ever be able to find them here unless personally invited.

He snuck a glance at Bakura, who seemed not to pay his continued surprise any mind. Something for which Malik was very grateful at the moment, though he had admittedly very little face left to save.

Both vampires began walking along a thin gravel path leading into the distant city before them. On either side, he could make out - just barely - rolling fields of night orchids and lilies peeking out of tall, thorny grass. Innumerable fireflies lit up the air above the fields over their path, tiny balls of light lighting the way. Malik tucked his hair behind one ear in wonder, surprised to feel a slight breeze on his cheek here, so deep underground.

"I never knew such beauty could blossom in the dark," he breathed as a pale blue moth glided overhead, streaming two delicate tails in its wake. It glowed slightly as well.

"You can thank the wood nymphs for that," Bakura proudly acknowledged, feeling quite pleased as acting ambassador. Yes Yami, you were right, he conceded. It had been a good idea to let the foreigner come, after all. "Did you know that they are distantly related to vampires? They are Da'kana as well."

Malik shook his head silently, his eyes still glued to their surroundings. From what he knew, wood nymphs had never been seen outside their home in the deep dark forests of eastern Europe. But if they _were_Da'kana, he suddenly rationalized, perhaps their desire to be recluse stemmed in fact from an aversion to the sun. Were they really-?

The vampire found himself practically gaping at the city, his usually composed and emotionless nature completely out of balance with the childish awe he was displaying. This will not do, Malik chided himself . He vowed to keep silent until he got his behavior under control. Happy to oblige the distressed vampire, Bakura let them walk through the rest of the fields in silence.

At the edge of the last grassy hill, the gravel path led them over a stone bridge that spanned a quiet stream. Malik watched one of the glowing fireflies drift to the edge of the water, before it grew two small, slender legs, arms, and a head.

His eyes bulged.

Beside him, Bakura chuckled quietly. "Tricky lot, those wood nymphs."

"Yeah," Malik managed a weak reply, forcing himself to move past the shock. He grasped for a way to restart the conversation.

"But still," Malik cleared his throat, deciding to go after the biggest question first. "How can you hide such a sanctuary? I've heard rumors of this place, but never any solid facts or firsthand accounts."

"I mean," he clarified when Bakura didn't immediately respond. "It's such a beautiful place, I would think that word would spread like wildfire."

"Ah, well, Malik, same way the Council conceals all their wicked hobbies," Bakura answered casually, ushering the other vampire past two uniformed vampire guards and through a tall steel gate on the edge of the city. "Psychic gag order."

"Oh," was the blank response.

Beyond the possibility of one being even having the capability to maintain such a hold on other beings, Malik wondered why no one protested such a command. Surely not everyone was happy with a ruler who could impose such a forceful desire on others. Wasn't it downright dangerous to be at the whims of such a powerful prince?

Sensing the questions roiling around inside of the other vampire, Bakura shared a long look with him, trying to find a way to communicate the wisdom that he'd learned over the years, but the words wouldn't come.

So he sighed, "Come on, we've a way to go yet."

* * *

They crossed several white streets, passing vampires that silently raised a hand to Bakura in greeting and peered at Malik curiously. He silently counted the different races and ages and breeds they came across, unable to understand how so many different beings had come together in one place.

Had someone purposefully collected them? Even more curiosly, without fresh humans wandering among them, how did they keep from attacking one another? Surely they got fidgity when hungry. And again, why so eager to maintain human fashion?

Eventually, Malik couldn't keep his interest to himself. "They do not fight here?"

"Hell no, not on my watch," Bakura scoffed. "If anyone chooses to pick one, they know they'll have me to deal with. And that's quite enough to dissuade even the hardiest of fools."

Bakura flashed Malik a cocky grin and hooked their arms together to turn them down a side alley. A moment later, it opened up into a large courtyard, in which a fountain gurgled happily and seemed to shimmer with a playful light, reflecting off the white stone of the statues on the fountain.

Malik frowned, blinking to clear his vision in case he was hallucinating. It wasn't the fountain that was making noise; it was the tiny beings dancing in it.

"I have to be seeing things," he told himself. It was common knowledge that faeries of any kind had died off long ago when humans had discovered how to wield fire as a weapon. The delicate creatures, vulnerable to the extreme heat, had been instantly vaporized; most of the time without the humans even aware, contentedly cooking their own dinner.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Bakura lilted, pulling his companion across the courtyard. Malik's attention didn't escape the fountain until they had walked passed it, the tiny water faeries paying him no mind as they played. As a result, the wide, short flight of stairs leading up to the French-style chateau in front of them caught Malik by surprise.

It was breathtaking in its simplicity; a two-story, white-towered work of art that stood perfect in its symmetry. Slender windows graced both towers in ascending spiral patterns, while large, arched windows were set along the front. Malik tried to look through them, but found each draped with dark red velvet curtains on the inside, embroidered with some gold-threaded design in the center.

Bakura didn't even pause at the front door, instead pushing down with all his supernatural strength on the door handle to loosen it. As Malik gulped in anticipation, the city's enforcer pulled the heavy oak door open and mock-bowed him inside.

There, Malik found Yami lounging on a black marble throne, one leg propped up on the armrest while his left hand supported his chin on the other. On his right knee, he balanced the tip of a sharp dagger he twirled slowly. Though he also wore human apparel, Malik could appeciate the image of power that the city prince imposed.

The prince had changed since his return from Seto's penthouse. He now wore a black tunic with an unbuttoned collar that contrasted sharply with his exposed white throat, a dark blue satin cape draped dramatically over the back of the throne. The entire outfit gleamed in a way that seemed to reflect the powerful persona wearing it; a visual warning to guests to behave.

The prince's blank expression changed into one of lazy delight as he shared a wordless look with his knight, taking in Malik's bedraggled and slack jawed appearance.

"Do you like my garden?" Yami's deep voice boomed in the lavish room, as elaborately crafted and imposing as the extravagant decorations that Malik could now make out on the throne.

The marble seat alone was a dazzling display of master craftsmanship, seeming to replicate the night sky with its twinkling stars and swirling shades of blue and purple and black. But beyond that, he could almost feel the unfathomable time and effort that had gone into the design of the dark stone floor beneath them, the looming white pillars on either side of the room, the sweeping curtains that hung on the windows behind the prince, the crystal chandelier that hung above the throne and gave off the only light in the room with six lit candles.

"Your garden, Majesty?" Malik stuttered, realizing he had let himself be distracted again.

"No titles, Malik; you may call me Yami," the prince corrected, his black eyes twinkling with the light. "My garden includes the city you toured on your way here and extends beyond the night fields, above and below."

The foreign vampire immediately dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "Prince Yami, your Second Haven is a glory beyond my wildest dreams."

"I can see that," Yami laughed deeply in response, looking at Bakura again as he leaned against one of the side pillars. "The poor fellow refuses to outright drop my title."

"Understandable," Bakura replied with a shrug, trying to hide a smile. How many times had they performed this dramatic greeting on guests? Yami wore his princely role with grace attained through centuries of visitors, some who challenged him and some who bowed in immediate acceptance of his authority.

Malik was clearly one of the latter, and for that, both Yami and Bakura were thankful. The unfortunate bondage that had been thrust upon the foreign vampire was already weighing on Yami's conscience; the least he could do was help the being who'd been unfairly caught in the middle of his conflict with Yuugi.

Speaking of the human, Yami was currently nursing a surprisingly strong mental connection with Yuugi and doing his best to hide it, not having had time to figure out where it had come from or what to do with it. The vampire unfortunately hadn't even noticed the connection until he'd returned to the underground city, since Yuugi had been asleep when he left. All Yami knew now was that the capricious human had awoken for the day decidedly peeved that his vampire lover was gone, understandable as it were, and was now wreaking havoc upon the vampire's senses.

Before he'd reluctantly set off to pick up Malik, Bakura had been enjoying himself by watching Yami's emotional behavior. It was just too amusing.

"My apologies, my lord," Malik cleared his throat, "but I did not know of the power you possessed. You are most generous in allowing me to live after the disrespect I showed-"

"Enough," Yami cut in, doing his best to contain the irritability Yuugi had so lovingly imposed on him. "I can only act the great and terrible ruler for so long; it's quite nauseating. Let's go discuss your request in the lounge, shall we?"

Gesturing for Bakura to accompany them, Yami swept his cloak off the throne with a flourish and strode gracefully across the marble tile, between two stone pillars, and down a side hallway Malik hadn't noticed before. Beyond that, the three of them passed through another heavy wooden door and appeared to enter a tent straight out of the sultan's caravan.

Persian rugs were spread out from wall to wall, each supporting a portion of the colored tarp that drew together to a point over a bowl-shaped pit inlayed with an assortment of pillows and cushions. In the very center was a metal stand upon which sat a beautiful black glass hookah, a tall vase-like contraption with four gold-threaded hoses that weaved elegantly around the base and anchored in delicate metal loops attached to the stand. As seemed to be Yami's preference, small white candles dotted the floor in silver reflective dishes, giving off an unusual light that lingered around their feet.

Humming gently, Yami walked over to a chest next to the pillow pit and used the silver tongs lying on top to grab a couple of coals for the hookah. Bakura gently pushed Malik forward to join them until the guest's knees buckled next to the first cushion. Bakura likewise settled on a cushion nearby and Malik smiled gratefully.

Completing his preparation, Yami threw back his cape and collapsed on a row of green pillows across from the two. Resisting the urge to wince as Yuugi felt a particular stab of jealousy - probably over watching Marik and Seto together, the vampire guessed - Yami stretched out a slender arm for the closest hookah hose and freed it from its anchor.

Malik found his mind frustratingly blank as he searched for something to say, his gaze almost hypnotized by the inside of the prince's blue cloak, a shimmering color that switched from blue to purple to black in the low light. With an indulgent smile, Bakura unfastened his hose and threaded it through the dazed vampire's fingers.

"Vampire got your tongue?" Yami asked, drawing slowly on his hose. He'd propped his head up on one of his arms again and stretched out one of his legs, bending the other; the effect was unintentionally seductive…or did he intend it after all? Malik struggled to maintain his mental coherence.

"I do," he managed to confirm. "I suppose the most important one is…Why did you build this wondrous place? Bakura told me that you built it with The Council's gift, but why?"

"Not so much a gift," remarked Yami in between a slow exhale of smoke that changed color from white to black as quickly as it left his mouth, "as an intended project."

He hoped earnestly that the hookah would help dull his mind long enough to mute the Yuugi tantrum hell he felt. The little devil of a human had to know what he was doing to Yami on some level, right? The vampire forced himself to remember that Yuugi probably didn't and was, in fact, probably the least observant person Yami had ever met.

"What do you mean?" Malik prompted, completely unaware of the turmoil behind Yami's eyes. To his surprise, his own smoke changing from white to blue as he exhaled. He'd never encountered anything like what they were smoking in this magic room; already, he could feel a pleasant calm setting in.

Yami frowned suddenly with a sense of dread. Was that...arousal he felt? If this was Yuugi deciding to have some a morning pleasure cruise, the vampire was going to kill him. He'd kill him. As Bakura's eyes twinkled at him from across the hookah, Yami's frown thinned and he resolved to be serious. He was not going to be at the mercy of all these goddamn emotions.

Yami leaned forward, locking eyes with Malik resolutely.

"I am the final achievement after a long line of failures by The Council," Yami tasted the words on his tongue, pleased to feel his self-control regaining some of its hold on the emotional tidal wave somewhere in his mind. Honesty was apparently the best policy, he concluded. "You see, they wanted to create a paradise for our kind, since we had chosen to live in the dark. So what they needed was a catalyst to that end."

"I don't understand," Malik admitted as Bakura's pull on the hookah made the vase bubble again. "What do you mean?"

"The Council turned me to awaken the power they had bred into my line, one that had finally come to fruition with my generation," Yami answered frankly. Across the pit, Bakura looked at the prince blankly, wondering where the confession was coming from. Seeing Yami clench one of his fists as it rested on his hip though, Bakura realized it was a coping mechanism and relaxed.

"This secret garden in the dark is my realization of their intent. I am its warden," the prince continued, tracing his lips gently with the metal mouth of the hookah hose. "I have been as such for thousands of years- though once upon a time, it was much smaller than what you saw today."

"I'd say it's only been around for half a century or so in its current form," Bakura agreed with a nod, inhaling another deep pull from his hookah hose. "So relatively new."

"This is utterly fascinating," Malik breathed out again, his smoke shifting into different shades of blue. "And you've never had any trouble keeping it a secret after all this time. But how is that even possible?"

"Blood magic," Yami did his best to downplay the seriousness of this mechanism and stretched, hose still in hand. He popped it back into his mouth again to take a draw. "Every guest to this city is required to give me a taste of their blood, which I use to bond outsiders to Second Haven."

Blood, Yami repeated to himself. Was that it? He'd tasted plenty of tasty little Yuugi's blood on several occasions with no ill effects however, so that couldn't be it. And more importantly, Yuugi was not Da'kana and should definitely not be able to form a blood bond with the vampire. Then what the hell was it?

"Do you do…anything else with this blood bond?" Malik asked tentatively, searching for the best way to ascertain his freedom in the situation. He knew that being the lesser vampire in this company made his compliance all but assured, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to at least have an illusion of comfort. But Bakura broke into a laugh at that.

"Relax, m'dear. Our prince here has no interest in surrounding himself with drones; it's just to viel our pride and joy," he reassured Malik with a pat to his knee. The foreign vampire looked back at him, feeling strangely comforted by the fact that for such an intimidating man, Bakura always seemed to be on his side.

"After all, a gardener wouldn't purposely ruin the flowers in his care," Yami added metaphorically, a slight smile in his lips. He took another pull from the hookah and held it for a moment before exhaling with his eyes closed, smoke turning a silver color as it left his mouth.

With Malik's question, the prince was once again reminded of the blood ritual he'd never been able to finish the night he met Yuugi: the Hunt that required one human sacrifice to maintain the bonds he had with all the beings in his underground city. If he didn't manage to find a replacement soon, the entire covenant would expire.

Bakura seemed to be thinking the same thing as they both shared another look and Yami nodded, silently agreeing to finish the job when the sun went down that night.

"Can I ask something else?" Malik ventured, unsure how to interpret the look he caught the two vampires exchanging. When Yami nodded, he wrinkled his brow, "Why did you name this place Second Haven?"

"Ah, I should think it'd be easy to figure out," Yami replied, twirling the hose in his hands. "Why do you think so?"

"A First Haven exists elsewhere?" Malik asked skeptically, unable to believe that anywhere else could be better than all he had seen outside. He felt himself flush however when Bakura chuckled again at his guess.

"Precisely," Yami agreed, rolling onto his back. "Where do you think The Council lives?"

"Do you know?" Malik demanded incredulously. No one had seen The Council in many years, and no one had ever even _attempted_ to guess where they stayed when not terrorizing inept vampires for failing to conceal themselves. Though now that Malik understood the intricate planning behind this underground world, he could perhaps see how The Council could so mysteriously disappear.

"Silly Malik," Bakura chided him. His smile was always so charming, Malik thought.

"I built it," Yami answered plainly, gazing at him calmly. "They weren't going to let me go with Bakura otherwise."

Not for the first time that evening, Malik's eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open. This was completely unreal. This was indescribable. This was surreal. This-

"This is too much to handle," he finally declared, replacing his hookah hose in its anchor. "I am in the presence of gods."

"Then stick around us long enough and we'll have you singing our hallelujah," Bakura rejoined dryly as Yami unexpectedly burst into peals of laughter, unable to restrain the waves of good humor Yuugi was radiating through their link. Watching this, Malik also found himself startled into laughter.

Though none of the company said anything else, each vampire privately sensed that, for the first time in a long time, maybe - just maybe - they had made a new friend.

* * *

Happy day! I wrote another chapter in less than a year and my limbs didn't fall off! :D As always, please review and let me know what you liked, didn't like, wanted to see more of. Your responses are very helpful! So I thank you, dear readers, for being the voice of my future imagination. 8)


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